


Gods and Monsters

by LeighhVanMonroeXx



Category: The Boys (TV 2019)
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Blood, Car Accidents, Car Sex, Character Death, Child Murder, Cunnilingus, Drug Abuse, F/M, Flashbacks, Graphic Violence, Hate Sex, Homelander is a dick, Kidnapping, Major Character Injury, Mental Breakdown, Mental Health Issues, Mind Manipulation, Nightmares, Obsession, Parent Death, Passionate Sex, Past Child Abuse, Past Rape/Non-con, Possessive Behavior, Psychological Torture, Rape, Really dark, Right Wing Ideology, Rough Sex, Scars, Secret Relationship, Self-Harm, Sensitive Billy Butcher, Suicide Attempt, Torture, Violence, Vought, really disturbing, the boys, tragic backstory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:02:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 5
Words: 38,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26448238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeighhVanMonroeXx/pseuds/LeighhVanMonroeXx
Summary: For the first time in as long as she could remember, Hannah felt sick. Physically sick. Her head hurt, her stomach was in knots and her body ached worse than the time she took the impact stopping a speeding train about to derail. She grunted, eyes fluttering as she struggled to regain consciousness. Everything was dark and blurry. Everything hurt. A strong, musty smell of damp made her nostrils flare in revulsion. She tried to move a hand to her head but a sudden, sharp pull limited her movement. Hannah seethed and winced in pain. Had she broken her arm? No, she’d broken enough bones to know it wasn’t the case this time. The same sharp pain was soon surging through both arms and both legs. Tiny, stabbing pains in several locations up each limb. The panic started to set in. Why couldn’t she move? Where was she? Tears began to sting her eyes and she stifled back a weak sob. She tried to think. What was the last thing she remembered?
Relationships: Billy Butcher/Original Female Character(s), Homelander/Original Female Character
Comments: 50
Kudos: 114





	1. In A Dark, Dark House

**Author's Note:**

> The Boys are back and so is my writing muse! 
> 
> I had every intention on doing more whilst I was furloughed from work, (hope you guys are keeping safe!) but life had other plans. 
> 
> Anyway, I needed a shower after writing this one because I felt absolutely filthy afterwards. It's really dark and twisted, there's a CRAZY amount of triggers in here, really hope I included them all in the tags! 
> 
> So read at your own risk and enjoy another piece of work from my fucked up mind!

For the first time in as long as she could remember, Hannah felt sick. Physically sick. Her head hurt, her stomach was in knots and her body ached worse than the time she took the impact stopping a speeding train about to derail. She grunted, eyes fluttering as she struggled to regain consciousness. Everything was dark and blurry. Everything hurt. A strong, musty smell of damp made her nostrils flare in revulsion. She tried to move a hand to her head but a sudden, sharp pull limited her movement. Hannah seethed and winced in pain. Had she broken her arm? No, she’d broken enough bones to know it wasn’t the case this time. The same sharp pain was soon surging through both arms and both legs. Tiny, stabbing pains in several locations up each limb. The panic started to set in. Why couldn’t she move? Where was she? Tears began to sting her eyes and she stifled back a weak sob. She tried to think. What was the last thing she remembered? 

She’d been out with MM and Hughie trying to find out about Liberty. Something happened on the way back to the base. What was it? She could remember sitting in the back of the car, Billy Joel’s “Uptown Girl” was on the radio and Hughie was singing along, she was laughing. It was raining heavily, Marvin kept commenting that Hughie’s terrible singing was making him lose focus. Then he swerved suddenly. Hannah hadn’t seen what happened. Had someone walked into the road? Was another car in the wrong lane? Whatever it was, the car had flipped. Hannah was thrown around the car and hit her head. She kept drifting in and out of consciousness, weakly calling out for Hughie or Marvin. Her head was spinning, her vision shifting and there was a shrill buzzing in her head. She couldn’t see Marvin but she could make out Hughie. He was dangling upside down, still strapped into the passenger’s seat. Hannah could see blood dripping from him in the weak light from the headlights. She tried to reach out for him but she couldn’t move. A face appeared in the window and gave her a reassuring smile. Hands reached out for her and carefully pulled her from the wreckage before laying her on the wet asphalt. Cold droplets of rain hit her face, her eyes, soaking her through. Everything felt heavy. The buzzing was getting louder. 

_“Thank you…thank you…please help my friends…they’re still in the car…”_ Hannah had whimpered, trying her hardest to sit upright. 

_“Whoa there, beautiful…you don’t wanna be sitting up right now.”_ The cheerful voice sounded familiar. Her gaze fell to his hand. What was he holding? She could see an almost luminous green glow coming from something that looked like a syringe. Instinctively, Hannah tried to sit up again, tried to move, tried to call out to Hughie, to Marvin, to anyone who could hear her but no words came from her, just weak and pathetic whimpers. The voice hushed her and she felt a hand gently brushing her wet black locks away from her face. A sharp prick in her neck and soon her eyes felt heavy. She felt all the remaining energy drain from her. A flash of red, white and blue swept past her eyes, and a blonde man looming over her with a bright smile. 

_“Rest up, Goddess…you’ll need it…”_ Through the haze, Hannah remembered that voice now, clear as anything. The way he said her supe name was enough to send chills up her spine. The buzzing had reached a frequency so high she felt like her ear drums would burst.

Homelander.

Hannah felt like she was going to throw up as she recounted the memory. Of course, Homelander was the reason she was here. In the early years of The Seven when Hannah – or Goddess – had been a member, she had gotten close to Homelander. They became friends, and soon Vought thought it would be a good idea to have them begin a “relationship.” They said it would be great publicity – ‘heroes in love!’ ‘A super-couple!’ ‘Heroes fall in love too!’ At first, Hannah had been more than willing. She couldn’t deny that Homelander was an attractive man, but she soon found out that for all the good he did in the public eye, behind the scenes was a very different story. He had terrible anger issues and an ego to match. He soon became incredibly possessive of her – was telling Vought to instruct her on how she should look, that she should be ‘seen and not heard.’ Then came the night he raped her. It was just after a night on patrol and she’d taken a few too many hits. She was hurting and just wanting to rest. 

_“Not tonight, John…I’m really tired.”_ Hannah said with a weak smile, gently brushing past him from the bathroom and back into the bedroom. Homelander stopped her, wrapping his arms around her waist. He pressed soft kisses to her neck, hands now dipping into the pink satin robe she was wearing. 

_“Come on, Hannah…I can make you feel better…"_ He whispered against her ear. Hannah sighed softly and pulled his arms away from her waist before turning to him. 

_“I said no, John. I just want to sleep.”_ Hannah gave him another smile, but he didn’t return it. She hadn’t seen him look at her the way he was before. His look was dark and predatory. With incredible force, Homelander shoved her back onto the bed and in one swift movement, he was straddling her hips, strong thighs keeping her pinned firmly in place. Hannah was starting to panic, her eyes glowing pink as she tried to use her powers on him, but it seemed to have no effect. Hands ripped open her robe and grabbed at her. She had tried her hardest to fight back, do anything to stop him, but he was much stronger than she was. 

When she tried to talk to Madelyn Stillwell about it the next morning covered in bruises, she told her to ‘keep her head down, her mouth shut and to get to makeup.’ But that wasn’t what pushed Hannah over the edge. Seeing Homelander execute a child instead of saving him was the final push. When she asked him why he’d done it, he told her it would make for a brilliant story: ‘Homelander and Goddess do everything to save family trapped in burning building but they’re too late.’ Apparently, it would make them seem more relatable being unable to save everyone all the time. She was disgusted. She could still remember the conversation in Madelyn’s office. 

_“I watched him snap that poor little boy’s neck! His head spun right around!”_ Goddess was furious, anger etched over her sharp features. Madelyn’s gaze drifted over to Homelander who was stood with his hands folded and his gaze to the floor. 

_“Is that true, John?”_ She had asked. Homelander looked up, tears pricking his eyes. For a moment, Goddess thought that he was overcome with guilt and that he was going to tell the truth. 

_“I’m sorry Madelyn…I’m so sorry…”_ He paused to let out a weak sob. _“But I think the pressure of the job has finally gotten to out darling Goddess.”_ Her eyes grew wide in shock and she scoffed in disgust. _“I think the things that she’s seen lately, all the things she’s been through in the past year…I think it’s starting to mess with her head. Remember a few months ago when she accused me of raping her? Yesterday she was so traumatised by not being able to save that poor family so she’s made up these horrific fantasies where I’m the bad guy and she has to blame me to make herself feel better …I’m just as upset as you are, Hannah…but please don’t punish me for your weaknesses…”_

That was the final thing Madelyn had needed to hear to be convinced that Goddess’s mental state had been compromised. She had her removed from The Seven, the tabloids were told that she had left to pursue other ventures and that she was passing the torch to new member Queen Maeve. Overnight, everything changed for Hannah. She was relocated and was forced to sign a non-disclosure agreement. She couldn’t talk about any of the things she saw at risk of serious consequences. Although she was out of the spotlight now, Vought were still watching her. They were outside her house, had cameras inside her house…she couldn’t take the constant surveillance anymore. She cut out her tracking chip, cut her hair and dyed it black before heading out to the car where the Vought operatives were watching her. She used her powers on them, her eyes glowing bright pink and the men in the car let down their guard. The second they were under her influence, Hannah instructed them to drive away and come back in an hour. By the time they came back, Hannah was long gone. Shortly after, she’d met Billy Butcher and The Boys and struck a deal with them to help bring down Vought. Billy didn’t trust her one bit. She was a supe after all and he had a chip on his shoulder for that. But his target was Homelander and if she could help get to him, Billy was willing to ignore that side of her. 

Her eyes had finally adjusted to the darkness of the room and she was able to make out objects in the room: faded pink wallpaper decorated with yellowing flowers was starting to peel from the damp stained walls. The wooden floor was dusty and scattered with plaster from the damaged ceiling, a small heart-shaped rug weathered and mouldy from years of damp was scrunched up beside the bed. A small bedside table with dirty, chipped white paint was to her left, a dusty and cracked princess castle lamp sat on top beside a silver photo frame that was far too dirty to see the picture inside. She was lying on a child’s bed – old fluffy fairy lights were twisted around the headboard, the mattress beneath her was old; she could feel the loose springs digging into her back. Across the room, an old dilapidated dolls house, a small rocking chair which must have once been painted a sweet shade of lavender was now filthy and rotten beside the bookshelf. The room was familiar – painfully familiar; so much so that she started to panic again. This was her childhood bedroom. How did Homelander know about this place? Nobody knew about it besides Madelyn and the doctors who assessed her when she was first recruited. Had she let him read her files? Turning her head to the side, Hannah finally saw what was keeping her in place. Her breath hitched in her throat as she saw, glinting in the dim light from outside, several small, silver hooks pierced through her skin. She whimpered, trying her hardest not to panic and not to move. 

A sudden _WHOOSH!_ Alerted Hannah. He was here. She heard the front door creak open loudly downstairs, then slow, heavy footsteps up the staircase. As each creak grew louder, so did Hannah’s heartbeat; it was practically beating out of her chest. She slowly tried to lift her arm, hoping to be able to try and reach across to pull out the hooks but the smallest of movements made the hooks tug at her skin and the pain surged all over again. The footsteps came to a sudden stop, the bedroom door slowly opened and she was graced with Homelander’s arrogant, smiling face. 

“Excellent, you’re awake! That was quite a nasty accident you were in.” He strode into the room and knelt by the side of her bed before brushing the messy black locks from her face before pressing a sickeningly tender kiss to her forehead. Hannah rolled her head away and was met with a scoff from the blonde beside her. 

“I pull you from that car wreckage and this is the thanks I get? You really should be more grateful.” His voice was stern, warning. “I single-handedly saved you from Billy Butcher and his so-called ‘Boys!’” Hannah turned her head to glare at him. 

“You caused the accident! And you pulled me out, but you left my friends there to die!” She snapped. Homelander feigned a hurt expression and chuckled a little. 

“Your friends? Oh Hannah, you really have fallen very far from grace, haven’t you?” He stood up and slowly walked towards the rocking chair. He pulled it over to the side of the bed, the wood making a piercing screech as it was dragged across the floor. The blonde dropped himself into the seat, rocking back and forth with an amused look for a moment for leaning forward. 

“Your ‘friends’ are fine. Sure, they’re a bit beaten up and bruised, but they’re still alive.” The news filled her with relief. He could have been lying, but she could hear the disappointment in his voice as he said it. He wasn’t happy that Hughie and Marvin had survived the crash at all and he couldn’t hide it. “And the important thing is that so are you. And whether you like it or not, you’re finally safe here with me.” Hannah scoffed and chuckled at his statement. 

“Safe? Is that why you put hooks in my arms and legs? So that I’d feel safe?” Homelander shot her a sarcastic grin and reached out to stroke her cheek before slowly trailing his fingers down her arm. 

“Can’t have you trying to run away before the two of us have a talk.” Hannah groaned in pain as he flicked the hook in her forearm, a sadistic smirk spread across his face. “You’ve been hiding from me for years now, Hannah, and I’ll be the first to admit, I was very hurt about that. But I’ve finally found you and now we can make up for lost time…my perfect Goddess.” Homelander smiled and leaned down and attempt a soft kiss on her lips. Hannah instead, spat in his face. He pulled away, his look darkened for a moment as he stuck out his tongue and licked his lips clean, a smirk appearing as he hummed in satisfaction. 

“You’ve picked up some very bad habits being around William, but I suppose I probably deserved that. I imagine you still blame me for your little breakdown and your departure from The Seven.” 

“Breakdown?” Hannah snapped. “You raped me! Then a week later you killed a child in front of me and made Madelyn think I was going crazy, that I was delusional and a liar! They tried to have me sectioned, John!” He looked shocked.

“Wow…nobody has called me John for a long time. I forgot how beautiful it sounded when you said it.” He seemed to have completely ignored everything else she had said; or more likely he’d heard and just didn’t care. Hannah knew the man Homelander really was – he was self-centred, cruel and twisted. He was a psychopath dressed up as the American dream. His hand cupped her face again, another smile appeared on his face as his grip on her jaw tightened and held her in place. He leaned down and pressed a forceful kiss to her lips. Hannah whimpered at the force; her protests muffled by his mouth. She was left gasping for air once he finally pulled away, the knots in her stomach twisting with the threat of vomit all over again. 

“You still taste as intoxicating as ever. Your magic really does work on everyone.” He chuckled. 

“You know fully well it has no effect on you. If it did, you would have told Madelyn the truth.” 

“And yet I’m still hopelessly under your spell. Goddess…a modern-day Aphrodite. A woman so beautiful, anyone could fall in love with her with a single glance. She could have anyone she wanted…” Homelander ran his hand over Hannah’s stomach, up and over her breasts, giving them a gentle squeeze as he smiled. “And she chose me.” 

“I never chose you! Vought chose you – Madelyn chose you!” Hannah spat. Homelander grinned. 

“She had to. When left to your own devices you have terrible taste in men. I mean, your standards must be really low if you’ve started fucking William Butcher.” 

Hannah’s heart skipped a beat. She felt like she’d been punched in the gut. How the hell did he know about her and Billy? Nobody knew, not even Hughie, Frenchie, Marvin or Kimiko. She was about to protest – tell him he was crazy, but he continued. 

“Don’t even try to fucking lie to me, Hannah. I’m so sick of fucking lies right now!” He took a moment to compose himself again. “I’ve watched you for months now. I’ve seen you slip into filthy little motel rooms with him, in the back seat of his car…ever since he couldn’t work things out with his dear, sweet Becca, he hasn’t been able to keep his filthy hands off you. Do you know how it makes me feel seeing you with him and watching the things he does to you? It breaks my heart, Hannah, it really does.” 

After Becca refused to leave her son to run away with Billy, he’d been on a warpath. Well, a bigger one than usual. His hatred for Homelander had never been stronger. He was the source of all his suffering. If it hadn’t been for him, none of this would have happened. He’d still be with Becca and they’d still be happy. He’d stumbled back one night drunk off his ass, shouting abuse at everyone, throwing things, smashing things up. Hannah had persuaded the others to leave for a bit so she could try to calm him down. 

_“Billy, this isn’t you. This is the damn booze speaking.”_ Hannah spoke softly. He laughed at her and threw the now empty bottle of scotch in her direction. It narrowly missed her and smashed on the wall behind her. 

_“No, luv! That’s where you’re wrong! It ain’t the booze talkin’, it’s me, thinkin’ and talkin’ openly and honestly for the first time in fuckin’ years! You’re lookin' at the real Billy fuckin’ Butcher!”_ He threw his arms open wide and smirked at her, swaying a little before drifting over to the refrigerator in search of more alcohol. 

_“Don’t you think you’ve had enough?”_ Hannah followed him, closing the small refrigerator before he had the chance to take anything out. Billy responded by scoffing and shoving her out of the way, proceeding to pull a six pack of beers out. He cracked one open and proceeded to down it quickly, wiping his lips after. 

_“Why the fuck are you still here anyway, huh?”_ He pointed at her and chuckled a little. _“I don’t just mean here now; I mean in the gang in general? You’re fucking supe scum just like the rest of ‘em!”_

_“You know why I’m part of this team, Billy. I want to bring down Vought and Homelander just as much as you do-”_ Before Hannah could say anymore, Billy cut her off. 

_"That’s the thing I don’t get. Why? You were so fuckin’ cryptic when you first got in. So, what is it? Pissed that Vought kicked you out and replaced you with Maeve? Still got your little panties in a twist that Homelander moved onto Maeve just as quickly as you left? Sad that he doesn’t want you back?”_ Billy’s words stung. He’d been treading the line with her over the last few months and this was enough to send her over the edge. 

_“You wanna know everything he did to me, Billy? Where do you want me to start? The part where I watched him murder a child and then accuse me of having a mental breakdown when I told Stillwell about it? Or how about the part where he raped me?”_ The look on Billy’s face suddenly dropped. The smug grin was replaced with guilt and shock. _“Oh, you thought your Becca was the only one? Sorry to disappoint.”_ Hannah dropped down onto the sofa behind her and quickly wiped her eyes. She wasn’t going to cry about it. She was better than that. Billy soon joined her, that guilty look still on his face. 

_“I’m sorry, luv…if I’d know I never would’ve said that shit.”_

_“It doesn’t really matter. You’ve said it now. But that’s why I want this just as much as you do. Homelander and Vought single-handedly ruined my life. I want them brought down.”_ Hannah replied softly. Billy reached over and wrapped an arm around her, pulling her close to him. 

_“We’re a right fuckin’ pair, aren’t we?”_ He looked down at Hannah and chuckled. She laughed a little too and offered him a small smile. They couldn’t take their eyes off each other. They remained locked in gaze for what seemed like hours before Billy leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. She immediately pulled away. 

_“Billy, you’re drunk…you’re not thinking straight.”_ He reached out and tilted her chin up. 

_“I told ya, luv…I’m thinkin’ clearly for the first time in fuckin’ years…”_ His voice was softer than she’d ever heard it before. This time when he kissed her, Hannah didn’t pull away. She kissed him back, arms wrapping around his neck. He tasted like tobacco and cheap alcohol. She should have been disgusted by the taste but instead she was enticed. 

“Do you even care about my feelings, Hannah? Do you even give a single, solitary fuck about what all of this has done to me?” Homelander gave her a small, sharp slap across the face and pulled her attention back to him. “I was disgusted to see how low you’d sunk when I first saw you fucking Butcher. He’s not worthy of you. A Goddess like you should be with a God like me-” Hannah cut him off.

“You’re not a God, John! You’re a fucking psychopath!” 

“Oh, I am a God, Hannah. Don’t you get it? I’m the fucking Homelander! I always get what I want and what I want is you. One way or another, Hannah, I will have you again…you will be mine…and mine alone. Not only do I get my perfect Goddess back, I get to fuck with Butcher all over again. He really does have excellent taste in women.” Homelander gave her a chilling smile as he twisted a lock of her hair around his finger. 

“Now, I may have failed with Becca and her pussy of a kid, but us? We’d make beautiful children…an army of perfect little superheroes…wouldn’t that be wonderful?” He tugged sharply on the lock of hair and made her whimper. He made a quick comment about preferring her hair blonde before running one hand down her stomach, inching ever closer to the waistband of her jeans. Once his hand had slipped inside, rough fingers rubbed at her clit as he leaned down to press another rough kiss to her lips. This time, Hannah put up a fight tried to pull away. She moved so harshly and suddenly that she ripped two of the hooks out of her left arm. Hannah howled in pain as she felt flesh rip and blood drip down her arm. 

“Oh, now look what you’ve done!” Homelander sounded like a disappointed parent. Hannah cried out in pain, staring at her arm and waiting for her body to heal itself like it always did. _‘Part of being a Goddess is that nothing will leave a mark for long or ever scar. A Goddess of beauty must remain perfect in every way…not a single blemish to be found.’_ But it never came. The regeneration of flesh wasn’t happening, instead, just more and more blood. Why wasn’t she healing? She remembered back at the crash, the syringe with the glowing green liquid. 

“After the crash…” Hannah spoke through gritted teeth. “You injected me with something…” Homelander was grinning like a guilty child beside her. “John, what did you do to me?!” She demanded. Homelander leaned back in the rocking chair and chuckled before presenting a small vial of the same neon green liquid. 

“I found this in Vought’s laboratory. Something they’ve been working on since you and your buddies spilled their secret about heroes being made and not born. Kinda like a reset button for supes. They’re planning on using it to tackle the supervillain issue. They’re calling it ‘Compound X.’ You obviously know what Compound V does; well this little beauty does the opposite. This dials your powers all the way down to a big, fat zero. So, in your case, no hypnotism to make people fall in love with you, no strength, no healing…you’re just a regular human.” That sick smirk was plastered over his face again as he gave her a sinister chuckle. “It’s still in the early stages of testing right now, and the dose I gave you was nowhere near enough for the effects to be permanent – or I think so anyway – I’m not a fucking scientist after all.” Hannah’s jaw fell open, her breathing grew short and sharp and her heart was about to pound out of her chest. It had been hard but not surprising to know her parents had willingly injected her with an experimental chemical for money, but to now be told Vought were developing a way to take that power away? 

“Now, I’ll make you a deal.” Homelander began. “I’ll take the hooks out and bandage you up if – and only if – you promise to behave yourself. Understand? That means no fighting, no running away…you’re just gonna stay right there.” What choice did she really have? Without her powers, she had little to no chance of being able to fight him. With a weak nod, Hannah agreed. For now, she would just have to play along and be willing. Homelander gave her a pleased smile and set to work slowly removing all the remaining hooks from Hannah’s body. She whimpered and sobbed with each tug of the hooks. The sting was like nothing she’d ever felt before. Once each one was removed, Homelander began carefully cleaning and bandaging each individual wound. Through the pain-filled haze, Hannah had no idea where the iodine bottle or the bandages came from, but that was the least of her worries. Once he was done, he cradled her head and pressed a soft kiss to the top. The tender moment felt warped and twisted. It was insincere and just so wrong. 

“See how much easier everything is when you just listen to me?” 

The two of them were silent for a while; Hannah merely stayed locked in his embrace, her head resting against his chest listening to the steady beat of his heart. Eventually, she started to chuckle softly. Homelander looked down at her with a quirked brow. 

“Something funny?” He asked. Hannah sat up a little and nodded. 

“They’ll find me…Billy and the others…one way or another they’ll come for me…” Hannah wiped the tears from her eyes and looked up at him. The grin on her face vanished as soon as she saw the amused expression on his. 

“No, they won’t. Not unless you gave Butcher your whole childhood sob story?” Hannah’s face fell and he hummed in approval. “Didn’t think so. Hell, you were reluctant for even Vought to know when you signed up. Besides the doctors who assessed you and Madelyn, nobody knows all the sordid little details of what happened in this house – well, besides me, of course. I know every nasty little detail. Here was me thinking I had a fucked-up childhood, but you just won the blue ribbon for that!” He laughed and looked around the room with a nostalgic glint in his eye. “If these walls could talk, huh? I wonder what they’d say.” He shot a malicious smirk down at Hannah before forcing her back down onto the bed. She gasped and cried out as he pinned her to the old mattress, the rusted springs digging into her back all over again. Homelander pinned both her hands above her head with only one of his, the other running over her chest again. 

“I know exactly what they’d say. They’d tell us how angry Hannah’s good, Christian mommy got when she saw what her powers could do. They’d say how she used to beat Hannah, call her a ‘whore’ and a ‘slut’ and tell her that she was a Jezebel and that she was going to Hell for her temptress ways.” With one pull, he ripped the thin t-shirt from Hannah’s body. Small goosebumps dotted her pale skin as it made contact with the cold, damp air. 

“John, please stop…” Hannah begged softly. He held a finger to her lips and shushed her. 

“I’m not finished. It’s not polite to interrupt.” Another pull had her bra torn away and discarded across the room. Homelander licked his lips as he watched her nipples harden to the cold room. He leaned down and sucked one into his mouth, teeth grazing the little bud. Hannah mewled and tried in vain to shift away but it was like being pinned beneath a building. She wasn’t going anywhere. 

“The walls would tell us how Hannah’s daddy used to sneak into her room in the middle of the night after mommy was asleep. They’d tell us how he’d kneel next to her bed and stroke her hair, tell her that she was a good girl. He’d kiss her goodnight and go away. But when Hannah got a little bit older, he wouldn’t leave after kissing her goodnight. No, instead, he’d put his hands under the covers and he’d touch her. He’d put his hands between her legs…and stroke her until she was wet…” He looked up when he heard Hannah sobbing. Fresh tears were falling down her cheeks, black trails once again staining the skin. 

“John, please stop…” She cried weakly. The memories of the horrific things that happened in this house hit her like a wave. Her skin was crawling in disgust, she felt the prang of sickness in the pit of her stomach again and the fear she’d felt as a child bubbled to the surface all over again. 

“Why? We’re just getting to the good part.” He smirked and started to run his hand down her stomach agonisingly slowly. Hannah shuddered with each brush of his fingers, terrified at what was to come. “One night, Hannah’s mommy caught daddy touching her. She was furious. She started hitting daddy and little Hannah, calling them all sorts of names. Daddy started to fight back, tried to protect his precious little girl and he pushed mommy against the wall. He held her head and slammed it against the wall over and over and over again – blood fucking everywhere! Mommy fell to the floor…she wasn’t moving. Hannah never saw mommy again after that…” She started crying louder now, prompting Homelander to press his hand over her mouth. She remembered that night too clearly. The sickening wet thud of her mother's head bashing against the wall, the blood stains her father spent all night scrubbing before giving up and redecorating the next day. “A couple of months after that, daddy fucked Hannah for the first time. How old were you when he did that, Hannah?” She whimpered beneath his hand and he moved it away. “Didn’t catch that, Goddess.” 

“I was seven…” Hannah sobbed. 

“Seven?! Wow, that’s really fucked up!” Homelander cackled and popped the button on Hannah’s jeans before slowly lowering the zipper. 

“John, please stop! I’m begging you!” John looked up at her and cupped her face, cooing and shushing her. The kind act did nothing to sooth or calm her, it just made her sob even more. 

“Shh, don’t cry, Goddess, it’s alright. See, none of that mattered when you were with me – you felt something special, something powerful. I’m gonna make you feel it again.” He gave her a look that should have reassured her. Instead, Homelander pushed down Hannah’s jeans and pulled away her panties. Hannah kicked and struggled, she begged and pleaded for him to stop but he wasn’t listening. He was too caught up in the delusion that he was helping her. 

The first thrust felt like she was being ripped apart. Homelander groaned above her as he fully buried himself inside her, his eyes shut and head thrown back in bliss. He remained still for a moment – more for himself than her – before he pulled out slowly and pushed back in. He grunted, one hand holding her hands firmly above her head, the other holding her left leg up. His fingers dug into her thigh so hard she was positive she would have bruises later, his hips hit into her own with such force she thought he would break her. Homelander ignored all of Hannah’s sobs and cries of pain, too caught up in his own pleasure. She was his Goddess. She wanted this just as badly as he did. Why wouldn’t she? Through it all, Hannah didn’t move. She just lay there whimpering softly, blue eyes locked on the damaged, decaying ceiling above her. 

It didn’t take him long to hit his orgasm. His body shuddered and he let out a choked grunt, face contorted in pleasure as he came inside Hannah. He lowered himself down onto her, pressing soft kisses over her lips and cheek. One hand came up to gently stroke her cheek as he panted heavily. Hannah lay there a trembling mess. Her body ached all over again. Eventually, Homelander climbed off her and redressed himself. He looked down at Hannah who hadn’t moved a muscle and smiled at her. 

“You always look so beautiful after.” She didn’t feel beautiful. She felt hideous. The wet, sticky mess between her legs made her feel repulsed, the throbbing pain in her thigh and her wrist where he had held her tightly made her feel broken. He had damaged her all over again. 

“Now…” Homelander cleared his throat and looked down at her with an almost sorry expression. “Daddy has to go and take care of some business. So that means I have to put the hooks back in.” Hannah immediately tried to sit up, tried to move and get away, but the abuse her body had taken caught her out. She fell off the bed with a loud, dusty thud, splinters catching in the palms of her hands as she tried to push herself up. She was met with an amused chuckle as he lifted her back up, dropping her unceremoniously onto the bed. Her pleas of ‘don’t’ were met with tutting and a shake of his head. 

“No, no…see I can’t trust you not to run away now, can I?” He reached down and lifted up one of the hooks, admiring its blood-stained shape in the dim light before mercilessly piercing it back through her arm – through the bandage and through the flesh. Once each hook was back in place, he kissed her forehead and left her on the bed – naked, shivering and broken. 

Hannah had no idea how long she’d been lying there for. The sun had risen and fallen again so it had to have been a day at least. Her voice had all but vanished, her throat sore from hours of pointlessly screaming for help. The neighbourhood she had grown up in had become a derelict wasteland in recent years – purchased by property developers who soon went bankrupt. There wasn’t a soul around for miles to hear her cries for help. Was anyone looking for her? Surely Hughie and Marvin were? Was Billy looking for her? She couldn’t hold onto that hope. She needed to get herself out of here. There was only two ways she was getting off this bed: one was if Homelander came back and took them out again. She could try to run. But that was a stupid idea. Even if she did manage to run from him, he’d catch her and put her right back here again. He’d hurt her worse than before. He wouldn’t kill her – well, at least not intentionally. No, the only way she was getting out of here was to rip the hooks out of her limbs before he got back. She didn’t want to. It was going to hurt like hell and without her powers, she wasn’t going to heal. She’d just continue to bleed until she passed out from the pain. Hannah let out a desperate, guttural scream. She wanted this to be over, to wake up and for this to have been a terrible nightmare. She sat as upright as the tense hooks and wires would allow and scanned the room for a moment, trying to find anything to offer her some kind of calm or comfort. She saw her leather jacket. She had been wearing it when they crashed. A glimmer of hope sparked inside her. Maybe her phone was still in her pocket. Hannah took several deep breaths before biting her lip and bracing herself for what she was about to do. If she could tear one arm free, she could pull the other hooks out. 

The scream she let out as she yanked her right arm up could have shook the dilapidated house. The agony she felt as all four hooks were harshly and roughly torn from her skin was indescribable. She started hyperventilating as she reached over to pull the hooks free from her other arm, trying hopelessly to ignore the searing pain. It was like a wildfire spreading throughout her body as each hook came free from each limb. Once each hook had been removed, Hannah let out a weak, yet triumphant laugh. The hard part was over. Now all she had to do was get to her jacket which was resting over a chest of drawers across the room. Hannah used all her will and adrenaline to push herself off the mattress. She fell to the floor and tried to push herself up but her legs just gave way beneath her. Refusing to be defeated and desperate to free herself, Hannah dragged the dead weight of her body across the floor, nails tearing and chipping as she clawed her way across the room towards the chest of drawers. With each pull and each grunt, Hannah dragged herself closer and closer, flopping against the old wooden drawers once she reached them. Carefully, she reached up – ignoring the rivers of blood dripping from her arm as she fumbled for the jacket. Once she felt the smooth leather beneath her fingers, she grabbed at it and pulled it down to the ground beside her, panting heavily in an attempt to catch her breath. Hannah grappled with the zippers on each pocket, her heart beat pounding loudly as she found it. A relieved and hopeful laugh left her as she pulled the mobile phone from her pocket, bloodied fingers swiping across the screen in an attempt to unlock it. 

Dozens of missed call and text alerts flooded her screen – Frenchie, Marvin, Hughie and Billy – all four of them attempting to contact her. She looked at the top of the screen: battery at 2%, one bar of signal. Immediately, Hannah hit on Billy’s name and pressed call, struggling to bring the phone up to her ear. It rang and rang and rang and then she heard his voice. 

“Hannah?! Jesus fucking Christ, luv, where the fuck are ya?!” His voice was filled with relief and panic. “We’ve been lookin’ everywhere for ya, we all thought you were dead!” 

“Billy…” Hannah’s voice cracked, new tears filling her eyes. “I don’t have much time so I’m just going to tell you where I am-” Billy cut her off.

“Who? Who’s gonna be back? It’s him, isn’t it? Fucking Homelander!” Before he could go off a tirade, Hannah stopped him. 

“Billy please, just listen! I’m at 248 North Avenue, Sunrise Flats just outside of Bedford Park. I’m hurt and I’m not healing, please I need you-!” Gentle vibrating from her phone cut the conversation short. Moving it from her ear, Hannah saw the black screen with the dead battery symbol flashing in red. She stifled back her sobs and looked around the room, her head resting against the drawers. All she could do now was hope Billy and the others arrived before Homelander came back. Sure, she could try to drag herself out the house, but she probably wouldn’t get very far. Either she would collapse from exhaustion or Homelander would show up and bring her back then claim to be her knight in shining armour. She could hide – lock herself in the closet and hope that she’d remain conscious long enough to call out to Billy when he arrived or that she could stay still and quiet enough for Homelander to think she’d gotten away if he came back for her. That was her best plan. Wrapping the jacket around her shoulders, Hannah managed to drag herself across to the other side of the room. Her legs were grazed, but she was so numb from the pain now that she could barely feel the sting from the wood scratching her up. Bloodied hands slipped around as she tried to pull down on the handle to the closet. She managed to get the door open and pulled herself inside, pulling it almost fully shut behind her. Hannah rested back against the wall and looked around. Clothes littered with moth holes and cobwebs still hung from the hangers, children’s shoes littered around her feet along with empty candy wrappers. Her mother forbade candy in the house so she used to hide in her closet to eat it whenever she got her hands on some. She pulled the leather jacket from her shoulders and draped it over herself in an attempt to shield herself from the chill of the room before letting her eyes fall shut. All her adrenaline had been used up. All her energy was fading from her body, her breathing grew short and shallow until gradually, everything went black. 

She had no idea how long had passed when the closet door swung open with such force it should have come off the hinges and a bright light burnt through her eyelids. Through the blurry vision and blinding light, she could barely make out who it was. Was it Billy or was it Homelander? 

“Jesus fuckin’ Christ!” The familiar rough Cockney accent made her heart flutter and she immediately tried to open her eyes more. Billy. He had found her. 

“Billy…” She whispered, her eyes burning as tears filled up again. 

“Fuckin’ hell…” Billy Butcher was lot for words as he took in the sight before him. The woman who was usually as strong and stubborn as he was reduced to a terrified little girl hiding in a closet. He could see the bruises around her wrist, the dried blood staining her arms and legs. He wanted to scream; wanted to beat Homelander to within an inch of his life for doing this to her. But not right now. His focus was entirely on getting Hannah out of this house. 

“Come on, luv…let’s get ya out of ‘ere.” Billy spoke softly as he knelt down beside her. He took off his jacket and wrapped it around her before delicately scooping her up into his arms. Everything seemed to come in flashes of slow motion after that. Billy carried her downstairs and out to his car. He lay her on the backseat and told her that she was safe now. As soon as those words were uttered, Hannah faded into unconsciousness once more. 

_Hannah woke when she heard slow, calculated footsteps moving around in the hallways. Cheerful, upbeat whistling sent shivers down her spine and she pulled her knees up to her chest, rocking herself slowly in an attempt to calm down._

_“Hannah? Come out, come out wherever you are!” A sing-song voice called out. Homelander was back for her. She heard the bedroom door squeak open and the footsteps grew louder. The whistling started again, a familiar tune that she couldn’t quite remember right now. A sudden loud crash made her jump. Through the crack in the closet door she could see the bed flipped upside down. Homelander looked angry, his hands now folded behind his back as he looked around the room, smirking as he saw the crack in the closet door. Slowly, he paced over to her, pausing once he gripped the handles. Hannah shuffled back into the clothing hanging behind her, knees still pulled up to her chest like a terrified child hiding from a monster. After moments of silence, she saw his shadow vanish from behind the door, his footsteps fading as he headed back into the hallway. Relieved yet confused, Hannah let out a soft sigh and dropped her knees and gulped down the lump in her throat. Just as she was about to completely relax, the doors were torn from their hinges and thrown across the room. Homelander levitated before her, eyes glowing red with fury as he stared at the small, shivering girl on the closet floor. He lunged at her, grabbing her by the throat and up into the air with him. Hannah choked and tried to claw at his hand in a feeble attempt to free herself._

_“I knew I couldn’t trust you! Now I’m going to have to punish you, aren’t I?” With impressive force, Homelander threw Hannah through the wall and into the hallway, powdery dust from the dry wall filled her lungs and made her choke. She squeaked in pain as she shifted. She must have landed awkwardly on her shoulder. It felt dislocated. Hannah gasped in pain and rolled onto her stomach, trying to crawl away. Slow footsteps approached behind her and she heard him chuckle._

_“Still got some fight left in you! I like that!” He said proudly before pressing his boot against her back, forcing her flat against the ground. She gasped in pain as he applied pressure to her injured shoulder. “You really think you can get away from me? I told you, I'm the fucking Homelander and you are mine…you’re my Goddess. I’m never letting you go again.”_

_“I’m not yours! I’ll never be yours!” Hannah growled, still trying to fight her way out from his weight. His hand tangled into her hair and her roughly yanked her to her feet, his free arm locking around her waist. His breath was warm against her neck, his grip on her hair tightening by the second. He spun her around in his arms and regarded her for a moment before shooting her a dramatic frown and a disappointed expression._

_“Well then, if I can’t have you, nobody can.” With that, Homelander pushed her back with so much force she went through the wooden railing and fell backwards. Everything was in slow motion as she fell, her mouth open, blue eyes wide in fear as she saw him watching her fall to the ground below._

As she hit the floor, Hannah woke up screaming, a cold sweat plastered her short black locks to her forehead. Her heart was pounding rapidly in her chest as she frantically looked around the room, hands clutching the bedsheets tightly. 

“Bloody Hell, luv, calm down!” Her gaze shot in the direction of the voice, the fear she felt vanished almost instantly as she was met by hazel eyes and a cheeky smile. “It was just a nightmare…you’re safe now, I found ya…” He rested a hand on her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. 

“Billy...?” She asked in disbelief before practically launching herself into his arms. Billy gasped as Hannah practically knocked all the air out of him and wrapped his arms back around her. He stroked her back and gently stroked her hair, hushing her softly to calm her down. 

“Yeah, it’s me, luv.” He replied softly as Hannah sat up to look at him. He gently brushed the tears from her eyes and offered her a smile. “I told ya I’d find ya…I’ll always come for my girl.” Hannah smiled back and him and laughed softly. Billy pulled her back into his arms and pressed another kiss to the top of her head. Shortly after, the door swung open and the two were met by four concerned and relieved faces. Frenchie, Kimiko, Marvin and Hughie breathed a collective sigh of relief and smiled happily as they saw Hannah awake and smiling. 

“Oh Jesus Christ, you’re awake! You’re awake and you’re ok!” Hughie smiled brightly.

“It is a fucking miracle!” Frenchie declared, taking a celebratory drink from the bottle of vodka hanging in his hand. Marvin offered her a concerned look.

“You alright, Han? You have no idea how scared we were when we woke up from that crash and you were gone.” Hannah shook her head. 

“No, not really. I’m pretty fucking far from alright. But I’m better now that you found me.” She gave the group a soft smile. 

“Great, now that all the lovey dovey shite is done, why don’t ya give the girl some space?” It’s was more of an order than a suggestion, but everyone nodded and left Billy and Hannah alone again. He pulled a packet of cigarettes out of his pocket and sparked one up before offering the pack to Hannah. She gladly accepted one and let Billy light it for her. The two of them took several long drags, smoke now dancing in the air around them before either of them spoke again. 

“You don’t have t’ talk about it if you don’t wanna…but if you do…I’m all ears, luv, understand? I don’t know why he had you in that house, I don’t know how you knew where you were…I saw all the wounds when Frenchie was cleanin’ ya up...he’s a fuckin’ animal…” Hannah remained quiet, eyes looking down at her knees for a moment before meeting Billy’s again. “Just tell me one thing.” He took a deep breath, letting his cigarette rest between his finger. “Did he-” Hannah already knew what he was going to ask.

“Yeah. Yeah he did…” She replied softly. Anger boiled inside Billy and he took a long drag on his cigarette, exhaling heavily and stubbing it out on the ash tray on the bedside table before replying. 

“I’m gonna fuckin’ kill the cunt.” He growled. Hannah reached out and took his hand in her own, giving it a little squeeze before offering him a sad smile. 

“I know…I know you will…but we have to lay low for a while. The second he finds out I’m gone, he’s gonna be furious. He won’t stop looking until he finds me again. So, yeah, by all means rip the fucker’s head off…but not now…” Billy took a deep breath and tried to calm down, settling himself back into the chair with a moody look on his face. Hannah took a final drag on her cigarette before stubbing it out. 

“I want to tell you everything. I want to fill in all the blanks. You’re not going to like it.” Billy gave her a concerned look and leaned forward in the chair, head resting on his head. “I’ve never told another person about my childhood – well, besides the doctors at Vought…I’m not telling you this for sympathy or pity…I’m telling you because you of all people deserve to know.” Hannah took a deep breath and began pouring her heart out. She told him about the abuse she suffered at the hands of her strongly religious mother and her twisted father. She told him in detail about the night her father killed her mother and buried her body in the flower bed beneath her bedroom window. She told him about the first time her father raped her at the age of seven and how she was too scared to run away until she was fifteen years old and how she lived rough until she found Vought. She told him about the abuse Homelander subjected her to whilst she was in The Seven and how he murdered a child in front of her and convinced Madelyn she was having a breakdown. The only thing she told him about this encounter with Homelander was about Compound X. 

“Fuckin’ hell…you really have been through it. So you might never get ya powers back?” Billy asked softly. Hannah nodded softly and shrugged. 

“Maybe...He said Compound X was still in the experimental phase. At least it didn't kill me...I’m still here.” Billy nodded and sat beside her on the bed, pulling her carefully into a tender embrace. 

“You are still here…and as long as you are, you’ll be safe with me, luv. I’m never gonna let that cunt hurt you again. That’s a fuckin’ promise.”


	2. My Medication

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter should just basically be called "Look How Easily I Bow To Peer Pressure!"
> 
> You guys liked the first chapter so much, lots of you asked for a chapter two. Initially, I wasn't sure where I could take it, but after a good think, I came up with something that I quite liked. It's really not essential to read this chapter, you can just read the first and be done with it, but here is the bonus chapter you all asked for, hope you like it :)
> 
> This chapter was written with a very close friend who spent a lot of her adult life in an abusive relationship. She was very helpful conveying the thought process and feeling she consistently went through. 
> 
> 'The world is a dark place. Not everything has a happy ending. You just need to try and find one little spark of light. When you do, hold onto it. Don't push it away.'

Hannah took a deep breath and leaned against the sink, staring expressionlessly at her reflection in the dirty mirror. Her newly dyed blood-red hair dripped tinted droplets down her chest and into the sink. Homelander wouldn’t be looking for a redhead. The bright white light of the bathroom burnt her pale blue eyes as she carefully lined them with thick black kohl, still no expression to be found. To say Hannah had been struggling since Homelander’s attack was a massive understatement. Every time she closed her eyes she was back in the house, back on the bed with the hooks piercing her skin. Sometimes it was Homelander looming over her, sometimes it was her father. She couldn’t escape the torment no matter how hard she tried. Alcohol didn’t numb the pain. Drugs didn’t help her forget. She had become withdrawn and distant when around the boys, reckless and careless when she was out on her own. Billy was struggling to hold back his temper with her and had started avoiding her. Instead of letting him help her, Hannah just continued to push him away. He couldn’t help her. Nobody could help her. 

She bit her lip slightly as she pulled a small switchblade from the pocket of her ripped black jeans and flicked open the blade, admiring the bright shine in the LED light for a moment before dragging the sharp edge across her left forearm slowly and without any hesitation. She closed her eyes for a moment, holding back a whimper as she lost herself in the pain. Warm blood dripped down her arm and splashed into the sink with each cut she made. Hannah’s heart was pounding, her breathing growing shallow and heavy as the pain grew more and more intense. She dropped the blade into the sink and took a moment to revel in the sting before opening her eyes to assess the damage. There was none. Not a cut in sight – not even a scar. Just the still wet blood staining her pale skin. Homelander had been right. He hadn’t dosed her with enough Compound X to completely get rid of her powers. They had come back within a week or so. That was when Hannah started her secret self-mutilation. She could cut as deep and as frequently as she physically wanted and nobody would be any wiser. Each cut always healed itself almost as quickly as it was made and there was no evidence anywhere on her body – just flawless alabaster skin. Just like a Goddess should be. 

Hannah washed the blood from her arm and cleaned the switchblade. Before replacing it in her pocket, she reached into her back pocket and pulled out a small, plastic bag filled with cocaine. She tipped a little out onto the side of the sink and used the blade to cut it into two neat little lines before putting the bag and blade back into her pocket. Hannah leaned down and quickly snorted up each line, throwing her head back in bliss once she finished. She dried and brushed her hair before taking a moment to compose herself. The last thing she needed was the others drowning her in sympathy and worry. She suspected MM knew something was very wrong – he’d been practically watching her like a hawk at every given moment. Hughie’s constant ‘are you ok’s?’ were becoming relentless. Frenchie knew about the drugs – he was the one supplying her – but she had sworn him to secrecy. She had used her powers on him. Did she regret it? A little. The backlash of using her powers on her friends would be major if she was found out; but she didn’t care. All she wanted was to forget. As she emerged from the bathroom, all eyes were on her. She rose a brow, eyes flicking between all three men. No Billy. 

“Can I help you?” Hannah asked with a half-hearted chuckle. 

“New hair? It looks good.” Hughie replied with a small smile. Hannah returned the smile, trying to appear as normal as possible. She didn’t want the barrage of questions that usually came from her spending so much time in the bathroom. Hopefully dying her hair had been enough to throw them off their usual – and probably correct – train of thought. 

“I needed a change. Besides, he won’t be looking for a redhead.” Hannah replied as she headed into the small kitchen. She grabbed a water bottle filled with vodka from the small refrigerator and pushed herself up onto countertop. 

“You feelin’ ok today, Han?” MM asked with his usual concerned look. Hannah took a long drink from the bottle and smiled before nodding. 

“Yeah. I’m great. Couldn’t be better.” She lied before sliding off the counter and towards the door. Hannah grabbed her leather jacket from the hook and threw it on, draining the remaining vodka from the bottle before throwing it into the bin. 

“Where are you going?” Frenchie asked, moving his arm from around Kimiko as he turned to look at her from the sofa. Hannah straightened her jacket and flipped her hair out, stuffing her hands into her pockets before giving the group another smile. 

“I’m going for a walk. I need some air.” 

“Is that a good idea? I mean, won’t Homelander be looking for you?” Hughie asked, the concern evident in his tone. 

“I’ll be fine. Like I said, he won’t be looking for a redhead.” Before anyone else could protest, Hannah pulled up her hood and ran up the stairs and out the front door. 

She didn’t need them helping her. She didn’t need their worry or their pity. She knew exactly what she needed. Hannah sparked up a cigarette as soon as she was outside, inhaling the harsh nicotine deeply before blowing out a cloud of smoke. Nobody payed her any attention as they walked past her. She was completely invisible to the world as she leaned against the wall of the pawn shop, cigarette in hand. Just another faceless person in New York city. Perfect. It was a far cry away from when she was in The Seven. Back then, you couldn’t turn a corner in the city without seeing her face plastered on the advertising screens or bus stop posters. The blonde, bright-eyed poster girl of Vought International was a far cry from the person she was now. She pushed herself off the wall and headed into the city, cigarette resting between her fingers. Hannah knew exactly where she was going. She had run this through her mind for weeks on end now. She had tried twice already but lost her nerve both times. 

This night would be different. 

The cocktail of vodka and cocaine had quashed her inhibitions and clouded all her judgement. The artificial courage burned inside her and made her think this was a good idea. She stopped once she reached her destination and looked up at the bright glow of Vought Tower. Hard to believe she had once called this place her home. Hannah took one final drag on her cigarette before stubbing it out and heading into the building. It was far too easy getting inside. Her eyes glowed pink as each person watched her walk through the foyer. They smiled dreamily and relaxed almost instantaneously. She was met with no resistance – all the security and all the staff merely stepped aside and let her through. They showered her with compliments and let her head up to the penthouse. As Hannah walked through the halls, she took a moment to examine all the new pieces of self-indulgent art work of The Seven. The portraits, the statues, the busts all made her chuckle. How had this once been her life? Hannah examined each marble bust as she walked past it. Each stood on its own marble plinth and had a bright white light illuminating it. Starlight, Translucent, The Deep, Queen Maeve, Black Noir, A Train…She stood stock still as she gazed at the bust of Homelander, her stomach twisting into tight knots as his blank, stony gaze and arrogant smirk met her. For a moment, Hannah thought she’d lost her nerve – images of the acts he’d performed against her flashed across her mind. With a sudden, primal scream, Hannah pushed all the memories to the back of her mind and shoved the bust onto the floor, watching as it smashed on impact. She smiled proudly and hummed in approval before stepping over the damaged sculpture of her tormentor, pushing open the heavy doors into The Seven’s operations room. 

It hadn’t changed a bit. The smooth, black table shaped like the Vought logo sat directly central in the room surrounded by seven chairs – one for each member. The sprawling windows opened up to reveal the bright lights of the city shining against the black night sky. It should have been beautiful. It should have filled her with awe. Instead, Hannah felt nothing as she looked over the city. She slowly walked around the table, fingers bushing the backs of each seat as she did, a blank look on her face. She stopped at the seat to the left of the central one and clutched the back tightly – the seat that had once been her own. She dropped her head and took a deep breath before her eyes drifted to the seat at the head of the table. Homelander’s seat. Pushing herself upright, Hannah swayed over to it, spinning it around before slumping into the seat. She spun herself around lazily a couple of times before slouching down and turning to gaze out the window once more. She watched the traffic with a glassy gaze for the longest of times. There was no comfort to be found in the cityscape or the operations room of Vought Towers, no warmth or happiness anywhere for Hannah. She had nothing. 

“You’re the last person I’d expect to see here.” A cheerful voice sounded from behind her. A dark smile appeared on Hannah’s lips. She had been so zoned out she hadn’t heard the door open behind her. The redhead spun around in the seat and turned to face him. Homelander was stood in the doorway, hands behind his back and a smile on his face. He switched the lights on and illuminated the room revealing Hannah in full. He shot her an arrogant smile and turned to close the doors before turning back to her. Hannah remained silent. She merely sat there staring at him, watching him closely. Homelander chuckled at her silence and started walking towards her. 

“I was very upset when I went back to the house. I clearly underestimated your strength. But that’s my Goddess, always full of surprises.” He chuckled softly and perched on the table beside her. He removed his gloves and gently ran his fingers through her red locks, leaning down to inhale the scent deeply for a moment. She smelt like peaches. 

“I knew you couldn’t stay away from me…” He practically purred. In one swift move, Hannah was out of the chair and had him pinned against the table, her hips holding him in place, one hand tangled tightly in his hair, pulling his head back as she reached around with the other and pressed the switchblade against his throat. Homelander was noticeably stunned by her speed and her strength. He hadn’t expected that at all. He choked out a laugh and tried to look around at her, but she held him firmly in place. 

“Whoa! Alright! Now this is unexpected!” He grunted as Hannah slammed his head against the table before pulling him up again. “Ok, so you’re still mad at me; and I’ll admit, maybe I fucked up taking you to that house – that was kind of a dick move – and I’m sorry for that.” He groaned in pain as Hannah slammed his face against the table once more before pulling him back again. 

“You tried to kill me and my friends…you kidnapped me…tortured me…you raped me…you really think ‘sorry’ is going to cut it?” Hannah growled against his ear, her grip on his hair tightening. Homelander grunted, the amused look on his face still present. 

“Yeah, I agree, sorry isn’t enough. I shouldn’t be apologising because I fixed you.” Homelander smirked and Hannah chuckled. 

“You fixed me? Really? Is that what you think?”

“Yeah. I fixed you. Just look at you! You have your fire back!” He grinned. “No longer hiding like a cockroach in the dark…you’re out in the open…full of fire…full of passion…” He smirked and suddenly threw himself backwards. Homelander grabbed Hannah’s arm and flipped them around. She groaned as his grip tightened and forced her to drop the knife. Hannah groaned and grunted as Homelander forced her against the table, his hips pinning her in place, one hand wrapped around her neck. 

“I told you I’d get my Goddess back…and I did.” He smiled, giving her neck a squeeze. Hannah gripped his wrist, eyes rolling shut as he choked her. Hannah let out a strained chuckle, making Homelander raise a brow. 

“Something funny?” He asked. Hannah opened her eyes, a manic smile on her face as she looked up at him. 

“I’m not afraid of you anymore, John…” He loosened his grip slightly as she spoke. “After everything you put me through…I’m not scared of you anymore. Fuck, I’m not scared of anything anymore. You made me realise that everything I thought held my fear was bullshit. That house I grew up in, I wasn’t scared of that. It’s just a house…bricks and mortar, nothing more. No, the fear, the fear was all up here!” Hannah tapped her temple and chuckled. 

“What could you possibly do to me that you haven’t already done, huh? You made people think I was insane, you forced me to relive my childhood trauma, you’ve tortured me…you’ve raped me! What else can you do?!” Hannah screamed and Homelander tightened his grip on her neck again. Hannah just laughed again. “You could kill me – easily if you really wanted to. I’d welcome it! Because after all you’ve put me through, you’ve destroyed me! I’m a fucking mess! So, go ahead! Do it!” He had both hands around her neck now, squeezing tighter and tighter. Hannah could feel herself fading. She should have been panicking, should have been scared but instead, she felt at ease. As the air left her lungs and her mind fogged over, she finally felt at peace for the first time in months. But as soon as it came, it vanished. His hands left her throat and she immediately sucked in heavy gulps of air. She coughed, choked out her laughs and slapped her hands on the table. Homelander had turned to the window, one arm resting against it and his head resting against his forearm.

“You can’t do it!” She cackled. “You can’t kill me! Call yourself the most powerful member of The Seven? You’re fucking weak!” In a flash, Homelander was on top of her again. 

“What about you, huh? If you really wanted me dead, you’d have slit my throat the second you got the chance.” He smirked down at her, one hand reaching up to gently ghost his fingers over the tender, darkening flesh of her neck. “You feel when you’re with me, Hannah…hatred, rage, passion, it doesn't matter…you need me so you can feel alive, I can sense it. Your heart is racing, your body temperature is right up, your mind is just sparking, I can feel all of it…this is the most alive you’ve felt in months – the most alive you’ve felt since you were in that house with me…and you have the nerve to call me weak?” Homelander laughed. Hannah wasn’t deterred by his words. She continued to grin up at him as stubbornly as ever. 

“If I need you to feel alive, I’d rather be dead.” Her voice was barely above a whisper. Homelander returned her grin and leaned down to press a forceful kiss to her lips. She should have pushed him away. Should have bitten down on his tongue hard enough to rip it from his skull. But she didn’t. Instead, Hannah kissed him back with just as much force, hands reaching up to cup his face and hold him there for a moment before throwing him away from her. Homelander staggered back, impressed with the strength she was showing. Hannah sat up and shot across the room, pulling him close for another kiss before landing a harsh punch across his face. As his head snapped to the side, Homelander chuckled and quickly checked for blood. 

“So…this is the game we’re playing?” Homelander gave her a low chuckle and slapped her across the face so hard she fell over. Before she had the chance to react further, he lifted her up by her hair and threw her across the room. Hannah hit the wall with a loud thud, several screens smashing at the impact before she fell to the floor. She was laughing. Through the pain, through the glass slicing up her skin, through all of it, Hannah was still laughing. Homelander calmly walked over to her and pulled her back to her feet before kissing her forcefully once more. He lifted her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist as he slammed her back against the wall. She grunted, tilting her head to the side as Homelander turned his attention to her neck. He bit and sucked at the sensitive flesh, smirking as he watched the marks he made vanish almost instantly.

Without even realizing what was going on, Hannah felt a fist connect with the side of her face and she dropped to the ground. Homelander lifted her up and punched her again, this time with more force which caused the skin to break around her eye brow and for her to stumble towards the V shaped table again. Blood trickled down Hannah's face and she sniffed the coming red liquid from her nose as Homelander gripped her belt and ripped it off with a growl. Homelander then wrapped it around Hannah's slender neck and pushed her down onto the smooth black table, almost taking the breath right out of her chest. She was positive that she’d heard a cracking sound – the force had most likely broken a rib or two. The pain that began to radiate in her chest soon after all but confirmed it. But within moment, she felt her body healing itself; bones repairing, skin regenerating. Just like magic. Hannah shivered suddenly as Homelander ripped at her clothes. He tore off her t-shirt, shortly followed by her jeans, allowing her to feel the cold of the table beneath her and the icy chill of the air. She bit her smirking lips as she heard Homelander's pants clink onto the floor. Hannah's heart rate increased as Homelander pulled himself on top of her and gently pulled the belt gradually tighter around her neck. Why wasn’t she trying to fight this? Why was she just standing stock still like a fucking mannequin? Was it the vodka? Was it the cocaine? Was it the fact that she just didn’t care anymore?

"What's the matter? No more fucking words for me?" Homelander asked, seemingly out of breath. Hell, of course he was out of breath…he was so fucking aroused by the writhing redhead beneath him. Hannah didn’t respond. She didn’t have anything else to say. She felt numb. Completely numb. 

“Mm, red lace…an interesting choice.” Hannah could feel his smirk burning into the back of her skull as Homelander’s fingers traced over the pattern of her underwear momentarily before ripping them off her in one swift movement.

"Alright then…I guess I'm just going to have to make you scream." He growled deeply from behind her. The first scream could have shattered any window, but unfortunately the windows of Vought Tower were double plated and therefore remained intact. Hannah's eyes squeezed shut so tightly, she saw stars and the tears quickly began coating her thick eyelashes. Her whole body was on fire. Homelander tightened the belt around her neck and smiled that large menacing smile before pounding back into her again, his smile only widening upon hearing her squeal and choke beneath him. Not only was this arousing Homelander beyond all comprehension, but he noticed that Hannah was becoming increasingly wet with each thrust.

"Oh, she likes it rough. I knew you were a kinky bitch really. All those years together pretending to be sweet and innocent." Homelander moaned as he thrusted into her again, much deeper than he had been. He took a moment to flip Hannah onto her back before thrusting into her again to hit at a different, deeper angle. Hannah bit her lip as she felt the vein in her neck beginning to bulge and the blood rising into her brain. Suddenly, Hannah jolted and arched her back up violently as something deep within her had been hit...sending an intense wave of pleasure to cascade through her body. Out of sheer instinct, Hannah wrapped her legs around his waist, lifted her arms and dug her nails into Homelander's back, tearing his suit as the pain was being overshadowed by a need to release. Homelander groaned deeply and began panting mercilessly with each quickening thrust. Hannah could no longer control her own body and was sent into convulsive arching, letting her head fall to the side. Sweat beaded down her neck and rolled off her chest as the pleasure began increasing, as well as her distressed moans. The table creaked and cracked under their weight but that did not seem to faze either of them. Hannah's head banged against the metal as Homelander pounded into her with amazing speed, increasing the tightness yet again around Hannah’s neck. She felt yet another bolt of pleasure as her oxygen level depleted further, but soon the belt slipped away, giving her some much-needed air. After realizing the belt had been ignored, Hannah's eyes widened as Homelander began slowly stroking her clit...roughly. The mere movements, increasing in rapidity had attacked Hannah's heart and caused it to pound violently against her chest. 

"Ugh...Hannah...f-fuck" The panting quickly locking off his airwaves, Homelander began to feel the effects of oxygen loss and couldn't help but collapse his head into the side of Hannah's neck. Now Hannah could care less what kind of creature was trying to cause her pain. Nothing mattered anymore. The pleasure was too intense to ignore and she forgot all about Billy who had no clue what was going on in this room. Soon the electrifying pleasure began increasing agonizingly slow until their desperate panting became cries of bliss. Just as Hannah thought she was about to overheat, lose all her breath and pass out, she felt herself come with a violent explosion onto Homelander's cock and he let loose a broken cry of ecstasy. She then felt her insides burning as he came with a heavy wail and dug his nails into Hannah's chest...letting the blood soak his fingernails. With all his now fatigued weight, he collapsed onto Hannah and began wheezing and panting heavily against her neck, relaxing his muscles. She swallowed with a dry, scratchy throat and slowly began trying to find her breath. Homelander gave a low growl of pleasure and pulled himself up by his hands on either side of the table and peered down at Hannah's shining face. Homelander eyed her with fascination as he watched her come down from the amazing high. She looked so beautiful. Cheeks flush, stained with shiny tears and little black trails of mascara. Guilt and relief were etched over those delicate features, pupils still fully dilated from the experience. Not to mention the evidence of his arousal dripping down her thighs. Giving a smile, he pulled on his pants and grabbed Hannah's arm before he pushed her roughly to the floor. Hannah wheezed painfully on the ground as Homelander ran a hand through his soaked blonde hair and threw her clothes at her. Those once blissful eyes were now peering up at him pathetically in pain and he couldn't help but laugh with amusement at her.

“Well, thank you, Hannah, for proving my point. You’ve been an absolute doll.” Homelander smirked as he watched her dressing herself with such haste. “Like I said, you need me just as much as I need you…and you’ll always come back to me.” She could feel his smirk burning into the back of her head as she stormed out of the operations room, down the halls and out of the building. What the fuck had she done? The alcohol and the cocaine had finally worn off and she was seeing and thinking clearly for the first time all night. As soon as she was outside in the cold city air, Hannah ran over to closest trash can and threw up. She was disgusted in herself. She had just willingly given herself to the man she loathed over everything else in the world and for what? To feel something other than self-loathing for a moment? Mission accomplished. She now felt complete revulsion at herself. Her skin was crawling and her mind was racing. There was no way she could go back to the hideout now; no way she could face the boys – no way she could face Billy. Fuck, would Billy even care? Wiping the tears from her eyes and swallowing the lump in her throat, Hannah headed into the city to find the nearest liquor store. 

It was after midnight and Hannah was sitting by the lake in Central Park. She had finished a whole bottle of vodka and had now moved onto the whiskey. A cigarette hung lazily between her fingers, smoke gently dancing in the lights of the city around her. She had small black lines staining each cheek; tracks from her tears making her makeup run. She hadn’t sobbed, merely let the tears fall from her silently. Hannah had her knees pulled up to her chest, one arm wrapped around them tightly. The half empty bottle of whiskey hung loosely from her hand as she tried desperately to clear her mind. How could she have done something so stupid and so wrong? Was she really that fucked up? 

“I thought I’d find you ‘ere.” Hannah jumped as she heard the rough, Cockney accent behind her. She turned and looked up to see Billy Butcher stood above her. “You told me you come ‘ere to think. Figured this is where you’d be.” Hannah turned away as Billy sat on the grass beside her, pulling a pack of cigarettes out of his coat pocket. He sparked one up and took a long drag, placing the pack on the ground beside him as he exhaled. The two of them sat in silence for a while, just looking out over the dark waters before Billy turned to her. 

“I’m worried about ya, luv.” He said softly. “You say you’re fine, but I know you ain’t. I want you to talk to me, Hannah. I’m askin’ nicely.” Hannah stayed quiet, taking her time to think. If she didn’t, she would have screamed at him, told him to leave her the fuck alone, that she didn’t want his help and that she could look after herself. Instead, Hannah's emotionless facade vanished and she was overcome with emotion. She turned to him with tears in her eyes, her bottom lip shaking. 

“I’m a mess, Billy!” Hannah sobbed, her gaze falling from him to her knees. She couldn’t even bring herself to look at him. “I’m broken, and I’m sick and I’m bad for you! I’m bad for the team, I’m just poison…everyone I come in contact with, I just fuck everything up!” The tears stung her eyes as they fell. She wanted to stop but the tears just kept coming. 

“You’re not poison, luv.” Billy replied. “You’ve been through the fuckin’ wars.” Hannah took a sip from the bottle of whiskey before offering it to Billy. He took it from her with a small smile and took a quick swig before handing it back to her. There was silence between them again, tense and thick. She knew she had fucked up this time. If she told Billy what had happened, there was no way he’d want her around anymore. 

“Where were you tonight, luv?” Billy asked softly. He knew better than anyone how bad Hannah had been since the attack. When she was tossing and turning from the nightmares, Billy was always there beside her to wake her up and hold her until she felt safe enough to sleep again. He had been trying so hard to help her, but sometimes she made it so difficult. He was guilty of losing his temper with her, of avoiding her, but that was just his way of giving her space. After everything she’d been through, Billy figured the last thing she wanted or needed was him looming over her like an overprotective shadow. She still couldn’t bring herself to look at him, the shame and the guilt that consumed her kept her eyes locked firmly on the waters before her. 

“I did something stupid tonight, Billy. Something really fucking stupid. And if I tell you what it is, you’re going to fucking hate me.” Hannah replied flatly. 

“I’m not gonna fuckin’ hate you, luv.” 

“You can’t make that promise, Billy.” She replied quietly, taking a long drink from the bottle and a deep breath before going on. “I’ve been doing some really stupid shit for months now, Billy. I’ve been drinking…I’ve been taking coke from Frenchie – he doesn’t know before you say anything – I’ve been cutting myself…and tonight it came to a head. I went to Vought Tower and I waited for Homelander.” Hannah’s voice was shaking with each word uttered. “I wanted to confront him…show him that I wasn’t afraid of him anymore…we fought…I let him try to kill me…” She sucked back a sob and tipped her head back for a moment in a desperate attempt to force her tears back. “I had sex with him…and I’m fucking disgusted in myself…I don’t know what I was thinking, and I don’t know how to fix what I’ve done…I fucking hate myself.” Billy was quiet for a moment, taking his time to think instead of just snapping at her. 

“Christ, you’ve had one hell of a fuckin’ night.” He gave a weak chuckle and placed another cigarette between his lips. Hannah sat in silence, her lip trembling like a child in trouble as she waited for him to scream at her or simply stand up and walk off. 

“After everything with Becca, I was in a real fuckin’ dark place. Nothin’ fuckin’ mattered anymore. I was about to fuckin’ self-destruct – throw myself over the edge…then you pulled me back.” Hannah turned to finally look at him. He was looking at her with a small, soft smile, something she wasn’t used to seeing from Billy Butcher. “So, am I a little bit pissed off? Yeah, I am, not gonna lie. But like I said, you’ve been goin’ through some really dark shit. All I’m askin’ is that you let me help you, luv.” Hannah gave him a sad smile and took another drink from the bottle. 

“I don’t deserve you, Billy Butcher.” She replied with a weak chuckle. 

“Course you do. We’re both a bunch of completely fucked up cunts.” He smirked a little and Hannah let out a soft laugh. “Now, are we gonna get drunk in the park like a bunch of teenagers, or what?” That cheeky smirk stayed on his lips as he took the bottle from Hannah, taking a long drink before handing it back to her. Hannah placed the bottle down between them and dropped her head onto his shoulder. Billy wrapped an arm around her and pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head as he pulled her close. 

“You’re gonna be, ok, luv…you’re gonna be ok.” Billy said confidently. Hannah looked up at him with hopeful eyes. She wanted to believe him so badly. When she gave him a sweet smile, Billy leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. Hannah smiled against his lips and reached up to caress his cheek, her thumb gently brushing over the stubble on his jawline. After a moment, they broke the kiss and spent a moment with their eyes just locked on each other’s. Billy noticed how the pale blue of Hannah’s eyes seemed to sparkle in the city lights. Simply beautiful. He leaned in for another kiss, this one much deeper than the last. He cupped her face and held her there for a moment before one arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her over into his lap. Hannah moved and happily straddled his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck as she deepened the kiss, teeth nipping at his bottom lip. Billy parted his lips and let her tongue slip inside. He tasted like tobacco and alcohol and the unmistakable taste that was just Billy. She ground her hips against his and smirked at the moan she got from him. 

“Fuckin’ hell, luv, you sure you wanna keep that up?” He asked with a smirk. 

“Yeah…yeah, I really do…” Hannah moaned against his lips before capturing him in another intense, passionate kiss. Billy ran his hands down her back and rest them on the curve of her backside, giving it a firm squeeze. The redhead purred against his lips and rolled her head back, giving Billy the chance to trail his kisses down her neck. She smiled blissfully and ran her fingers through his hair. He caught her by surprise when he suddenly stood up, lifting her with him. Hannah wrapped her legs around his waist, not once breaking the kiss as he pressed her back against the tree behind them. After a moment longer, the chill of the night air was started to get to them both, despite the hot and heavy passion between them. Billy and Hannah practically ran to where his car was parked, occasionally stopping to steal another kiss from each other. Once they were back at the car, Billy lifted her onto the hood and settled back between her legs, pressing frenzied kisses to her lips. She shrugged off her leather jacket and pulled her t-shirt over her head, placing it with her coat on the hood. Billy groaned at the site before him and reached into his jeans to adjust himself, his bulge straining painfully against his jeans. Hannah smirked as she watched him and slid her hand down beside his, gently but firmly stroking him. Billy threw his head back and grunted before reaching to undo his belt before shrugging off his jacket and pulling off his shirt. He grabbed Hannah’s hips and pulled her off the hood, ushering her towards the back door where he pulled open the door and practically shoved Hannah inside. She laughed as she hit the leather seat and watched as Billy fumbled with her belt before pulling her jeans and panties. He looked up at her with lustful hazel eyes as he crawled up her body, settling between her legs. Hannah couldn’t take her eyes off him as he leaned forward and pressed soft kisses over her thighs, practically worshipping the woman beneath him. Hannah let out a soft moan and bit her lip as she watched him. 

“Billy, you’re such a fucking tease…” She whimpered. 

“All good things, luv.” He smirked, before leaning down to continue the trail of kisses. Once Billy had Hannah’s thighs bucking in a desperate search for friction, he kept his eyes locked on hers, wanting to watch every little movement and expression she made when his tongue dragged a wickedly slow line up her cunt. Hannah sucked in a sharp intake of air and whimpered loudly in delight. Her face twisted in pleasure, her back arched off the seat. Another lick led him to her clit, tongue curling around the little bud before he sucked it into his mouth, leaving the redhead moaning and mewling for more. Her toes curled tightly and her mouth hung open, all sorts of obscenities falling from her. Billy wrapped his arms around her midsection and forced her hips back down. He would do this on his own terms. He wanted Hannah to enjoy this, wanted to draw out the pleasure for as long as physically possible. But by the time he started drawing intricate little patterns on her clit, Hannah was sobbing. She was actually sobbing and begging him for her release.

“Billy, please...!” She whimpered, hands squeezing the leather seat so tight that her knuckles had turned pure white. With a smirk, Billy moved away and crawled up her body to her lips, the look of disappointment on her face was quickly pushed back to pleasure when he slid two fingers inside her. His free hand wrapped around her and gently stroked through her hair. Hannah opened her eyes again and met Billy’s hungry gaze. 

“Say it for me…” He purred against her ear. “Let me hear it, luv.” Billy’s fingers had curled and were rubbing relentlessly against her sweet spot. Her eyes had rolled into the back of her head and she began to feel faint.

“I’m your girl…I’m your girl, Billy...!” Hannah replied breathlessly. With that, Billy smirked bit down on her neck. That was all Hannah needed for her to throw herself over the edge. She cried out, muscles tightening around Billy’s fingers as she hit the best orgasm she’d had in a very long time. She lay there for what seemed like an eternity, a sweaty, panting mess. Whilst she was lost in her orgasmic daze, Billy kicked off his pants before positioning himself back between Hannah’s legs. She sat up a little and pulled him closer, pressing a series of rough kisses against his lips.

“I need you, Billy…” Hannah whispered against his lips. Hazel eyes locked on her own, Billy nodded and slowly eased himself inside her, groaning in pleasure as his full length slid inside her. Hannah’s back arched again and she let out a soft moan. Billy stayed still for a moment, reaching up to gently stroke her cheek. 

“You alright, luv?” He asked softly. Hannah nodded and leaned up to capture another kiss from him. She moaned softly as Billy started to rock his hips, creating a slow and steady rhythm. His fingers ran through her hair, and he buried his face in the crook of her neck, gently nipping at her neck. Hannah gently and slowly ran her nails down his back, soft moans leaving her lift with each firm, careful thrust of Billy’s hips. She wrapped her legs tighter around his waist, craning her neck to let him have better access to her neck. He was nipping and sucking right at a spot that sent shivers down her spine and made her hair stand on end.

Billy pushed himself up a little and gazed down at the beauty before him; her delicate face twisted in pure bliss, lips parted and whispering his name like the holiest of prayers. It was beautiful. When Hannah caught sight of him, she blushed. She actually blushed before tightening her legs around him and carefully flipping them over so she was on top. Hannah threw her messy red curls over her shoulders and gazed down at Billy with a soft smile. She leaned down and pressed a passionate kiss to his lips, carefully lining the head of his cock up with her entrance. Slowly, Hannah lowered herself onto his cock, a soft moan leaving her lips. Billy’s hands came to rest on her hips again, his back arching and his eyes rolling shut as he was engulfed in Hannah’s deliciously warm and wet cunt again. She took a moment to adjust to the length and girth of Billy’s cock before slowly moving. It didn’t take Hannah long to set a rhythm. Her nails dug into Billy’s chest, leaving little crescent moon shapes in his tanned flesh. Billy’s grip on her hips had tightened, now moving Hannah a little faster. He couldn’t keep his eyes off her. The beautiful goddess above him, red hair bouncing over her chest, head thrown back in ecstasy and face twisted in utter bliss. She was definitely a sight to behold, and Billy almost felt privileged that he was the one witnessing it. With a smirk, one hand reached up draw tight little circles around her clit. The sound she made was music to his ears: a loud cry of pleasure followed by a gasp of his name. He loved the way that sounded on her lips, almost like he was hearing it for the first time. Billy’s movements suddenly became less precise – more erratic. His fingers now dug into Hannah’s hips tightly before he pulled her down for a deep, messy kiss. 

“Fuck, Han…!” Billy groaned, barely able to find the words say as his thrusts became faster, harder and lost all rhythm. Hannah smirked and tightened around him. That was all it took. A few more sharp thrusts and Billy came undone, crying out her name as he came hard and fast, his own nails digging into her hips. Hannah moaned softly, lowering herself to rest on his chest, his eyes heavy and chest heaving as he struggled to get his breath back. Hannah stroked his chest gently, trying to gain control over her own breathing. They lay there in silence for a while, the two of them a panting, sweaty mess. After a while, Billy managed to sit up and look down at her, a wide smirk plastered over his face. Hannah pushed herself up and pressed a tender kiss to Billy’s lips before resting her head on his chest again. 

They remained like that for a while until the heat inside the car was too much to bear. Billy had grabbed a blanket from the trunk and the two of them had cuddled up on the hood of the car, gazing over the city. Hannah was nestled between Billy’s legs, her head resting against his chest and they passed a cigarette between themselves.

“You know,” Hannah began softly. “When I’m with you, Billy, I feel. It’s the only time I ever feel anything good. There’s no darkness or fear…just light.” Hannah tilted her head back and smiled up at him. Billy returned the smile and pressed a soft kiss to her head. 

“So, you’re gonna let me help ya from now on?” He asked with his signature smug smirk. Hannah returned it and took the cigarette from him. 

“If that was your way of helping, then definitely.” She chuckled softly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _"I push you away,  
>  Until you beg me to stay,   
> Just for the thrill of the chase,   
> You got me intoxicated.  
> Fucked in the head,  
> For all the things that we did, but I will never forget I need you,  
> My medication." _


	3. Our Love Is...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm back on my bullshit again. 
> 
> I literally cannot stop writing these chapters. I thought this one would be the last, but I doubt it highly. You guys seem to be enjoying it, so I'm gonna keep writing either until y'all get bored or this comes to a natural end!

Billy smiled softly as he watched Hannah from across the room. She was sat on the sofa, legs crossed and facing into the kitchen whilst Kimiko sat behind her braiding her hair. Hannah was smiling and laughing along with Hughie and Frenchie; MM was across the room complaining that their laughing was distracting him from his work on the doll’s house he was attempting to build for his daughter. Billy took a quick gulp of tea from his mug, unable to take his eyes from the redhead across the room. It made him happy to see her smiling and hear her laugh again, especially considering where she had been just a couple of months earlier. Although Hannah had been trying hard to recover, it had been hard. Really fucking hard. For months she continued self-harming, snorting cocaine and drinking. Her nightmares had gotten worse and she was still racked with guilt after her encounter with Homelander in Vought Tower. She had fought with Billy on more than one occasion; even using her powers on him once after he refused to let her out of the hideout. He hadn’t spoken to her for about a week after that, but it had been enough for her to get her act together. She had stopped with the drugs and drinking and stopped cutting herself. To anyone looking, she seemed to be improving. 

Then came rock bottom.

Hughie and Annie had successfully managed to get their hands on several vials of Compound V and Compound X from Vought’s laboratories. When they went out to follow up on a lead that evening, Hannah had offered to stay behind to protect the evidence; telling them that they couldn’t be sure they hadn’t been followed back. They had agreed and left Hannah alone. Whilst they were gone, Hannah broke down, finally able to let the façade of recovery slip for the first time in weeks. She managed to drain three full bottles of vodka before shooting up half of the Compound X. After that, Hannah had locked herself in the bathroom and cut her wrists open. She had stood staring in the mirror for what seemed like hours, crying and hesitating. When she eventually gathered the courage, Hannah began to fill the bathtub up with water. She lowered herself into the icy cold waters before she dragged the switchblade down each forearm, opening up the vein. Hannah had slid down the bathtub and let her head lull to the side. She felt nothing; not the sting of the wounds as she bled out nor the chill of the water as it surrounded her. She was free. Everything was going to be over at long last. No more guilt. No more pain. No more suffering. Just peace as she slid under the water. She still felt nothing as her lungs filled with water and the bubbles eventually stopped. When the others got back, they immediately noticed that Hannah wasn’t there. Frenchie found four vials of Compound X missing in the safe. As the boys panicked, Kimiko had noticed the water flooding out from the bathroom and alerted them. 

_“Hannah? Hannah, you in there?”_ Billy called, fists pounding heavily on the door. When no answer came, he tried to turn the handle. The second he was met with the resistance of the lock, Billy began shoulder barging the door, trying with all his strength to get it open. The second the door gave way and swung open; his heart had sunk at the sight before him. Blood-tainted water was flooding out of the bathtub. Hannah was under the surface, eyes shut and lips parted, hair lost in the red liquid. 

_“Jesus fucking Christ!”_ He gasped out as he ran over to her. Billy pulled her up and out of the tub and collapsed onto the soaked tiled floor, cradling her in his arms. He called out her name, shook her gently and tapped her cheeks in a feeble attempt to wake her up. She was completely unresponsive. All the colour had drained from her, she was freezing and completely limp. 

_“Don’t you dare fuckin’ die on me!”_ Billy was fighting back the urge to sob, struggling to keep his emotions in check. He could feel a pulse. It was incredibly weak and faint but it was still there. 

_“We gotta get her to a hospital, man.”_ MM had said from the doorway. Hughie looked terrified. Kimiko was clinging to Frenchie, head buried against his chest. He was stroking her hair, whispering to her that she would be alright. Billy had swept Hannah up in his arms and carried her out to the car. MM had driven whilst Billy held her in the back of the car. Hughie had bandaged up her wrists, trying to assure Billy that she would be alright, that she still had a pulse. He kept calling out her name, trying to get some response from her. When they arrived at the hospital, Billy ran in with her in his arms, screaming out for help. The nurses and doctors immediately took her from him and wheeled her away into the operating room. Billy was forced to stay outside with MM and Hughie. He was pacing around the waiting room like a caged animal, his heart pounding loudly in his chest. He was trying to ignore the fact that his shirt and hands were stained with Hannah’s blood. Hughie’s attempts to calm him down were met with Billy’s usual mix of profanity and screaming. Hannah had been in surgery for hours whilst the doctors worked on her. The second she was out, Billy insisted on being by her side, much to the reluctance of the nurses. He sat with her for two hours until she finally woke up. He was holding her hand and she gave his hand a gentle squeeze as she stirred awake. 

_“Hannah?”_ Billy breathed a sigh of relief and smiled a little. _“You gave us a fuckin’ heart attack, luv.”_ Hannah hadn’t expected his voice to sound so soft. She blinked and squinted, trying to adjust to the bright light of the room. She grunted and groaned in pain as she shifted in the bed. Hannah didn’t say anything. What could she say? ‘Thank you for saving me’ when she didn’t want to be saved? Scream at him and swear? 

_“Why did you do it, Han?”_ Billy eventually asked, his voice soft. _“You’ve been doin’ so well. You were gettin’ better.”_

 _“Because I can’t escape it, Billy.”_ Hannah replied flatly. There was no point in ignoring his question or trying to lie. Not now. _“Every second I’m still alive, I’m suffering. Whenever I close my eyes, I’m back in that house or I’m back at Vought Tower. I can’t get him off my skin, it’s like a fucking rash – an infection…I can feel him touching me, his tongue down my throat…my skin is crawling and my stomach is twisting with every single second I’m still breathing and I can’t get away from him, from what he did to me, from what I did with him…I’m broken, Billy, and I don’t think I can be fixed.”_

 _“That sounds like defeat, Han…there ain’t no fuckin’ defeat in this dojo.”_ Billy replied with a little smirk. Hannah turned her head and quirked a brow. 

_“Are you seriously quoting The Karate Kid to me?”_ She tried her hardest to hide her smile. 

_“Brilliant fuckin’ movie – a classic.”_ Another smirk from the Brit. _“I told ya I wasn’t gonna give up on ya. You can’t let him win, luv…you can’t let the cunt destroy ya.”_

 _“I’m not strong enough, Billy…I can’t fight anymore…”_ She whimpered softly. Billy got up from his chair and sat beside her on the bed, carefully pulling her into his arms. Hannah rest her head against his chest, hands balling in his shirt as she sobbed against him. Billy gently stroked her back, trying his best to calm her down, to help her, reassure her – anything.

_“You are strong enough – fuck, you’re one of the strongest people I know – you’re a fuckin’ supe. After everythin’ you grew up with, you still managed to make somethin’ of yourself. Ya can’t let one diabolical cunt fuck everythin’ up for ya. And you’re not fighting this alone, luv…all of us are in this with ya. You’ve just gotta let us help ya. Please let us help ya, luv. I already lost Becca because of him. I can’t lose you too.”_

After that night, Hannah had started to recover properly. Over the coming weeks, her powers came back once more. This time, however, not only were her powers weaker, her scars didn’t vanish. The long, jagged welts remained carved into the pale flesh of her forearms, staining the once pure, flawless canvas. Hannah didn’t care though. They would serve as a permanent reminder of her struggle and a testament to her strength and will to fight. It seemed to have set something off inside her. When they let her out of hospital, she turned a corner. She stopped drinking and cutting herself completely. She became much more focused on bringing down Vought – blaming them entirely for her suicide attempt. Everything bad in her life led back to Vought. If Vought hadn’t offered her parents the money to dose her with Compound V, her abuse wouldn’t have happened. Hannah would have had a normal life. She would have never met Homelander, would have never been assaulted by him and never tried to kill herself. Her relationship with Billy had also become more serious. The two had been spending much more time together; out on the road, they ended every night in bed together – or the back seat of Billy’s car, depending on how desperate they were. Billy had become the source of all happiness in her life. He was her light, the one leading her from the darkness. He was her saviour. 

“Billy?” The sound of his name pulled him back to reality. He blinked and saw Hannah’s pale blue eyes looking at him with a humoured smile on her face. 

“You’ve been staring at me for about ten minutes, are you alright?” Hannah asked with a small laugh. He gave her a little smirk and a wink. 

“Course I am, luv. Just nice to see ya smilin’ again.” He replied, raising his mug to her before taking another drink. Hannah smiled and let out a soft laugh. 

“And here I thought you were admiring the beautiful job Kimiko has done with my hair.” Hannah turned and offered Kimiko a smile as she finished securing the fish-tail braid in place. Kimiko returned the smile and leaned forward to give Hannah a hug. Since leaving hospital, Kimiko and Hannah had also grown closer. It was nice to have another woman to speak with – even if Kimiko never spoke back. She would still listen and offer support and Hannah felt safe talking to her. The same was to be said for whenever Annie was around. Annie had also suffered at the hands of Vought – The Deep, Homelander – they all played a part in abusing Annie. They took an idealistic young superhero and spent months upon months destroying everything she stood for. Hannah respected Annie a lot. After everything she had been through, she was still fighting back. 

“Looks beautiful, luv.” Billy smiled softly at them both and drained the tea from his mug before heading into the kitchen. Frenchie and Hughie both looked at him and smirked a little. Billy rose a brow and looked around. 

“Somethin’ funny? You know how much I love me a good joke.” Frenchie and Hughie both snorted back a laugh and shook their heads. 

“So many compliments for Mademoiselle Hannah lately. Are you two…?” Frenchie asked with a grin before gesturing obscenities with his hands. Billy scoffed back a laugh. 

“What? Me and Han? Nah, course not, don’t be a cunt.” Billy replied as he leaned against the counter. 

“He’s not my type!” Hannah called from the lounge with a small laugh. Billy rolled his eyes and shot a look at Frenchie. 

“Satisfied? Not the girl’s type.” He gave him a smug grin and turned to the counter, rinsing out his mug before placing it on the side. Frenchie raised his hands in defeat, but the cheeky glimmer never left his eyes. 

“Don’t fuckin’ look at me like that, mate.” Billy replied. 

“Come on, mon amie, you two are perfect for each other!” Frenchie spoke softly to Billy, not wanting Hannah to hear. Hughie nodded in agreement. 

“Frenchie, it ain’t happenin’, alright? And don’t you even think about chippin’ in.” He pointed at Hughie and gave him a warning glare. “Hasn’t the girl been through enough already?” With that, Billy strode out of the kitchen and back into the lounge, grabbing his coat off the hook. Hannah looked over at him. 

“Where are you going?” She asked with her usual little smile, arms folded on the back of the sofa and her head rested on top. 

“Supply run. Some cunt forgot to replace the milk.” Billy shot a glare towards MM who was still focused entirely on the doll’s house. His reply was merely a middle finger towards Billy. Hannah climbed off the sofa and pulled on her black hoodie. 

“I’ll go. Fresh air will do me good.” Hannah smiled. Billy gave her a concerned look, but before he could think about objecting, she cut him off.

“Relax. Straight there, straight back. Twenty minutes tops.” She gave him a reassuring smile and headed up the staircase before he could protest. Part of her was consistently irritated that Billy didn’t even trust her to go to the convenience store on her own anymore, but she had nobody to blame but herself for that. Honestly, part of her was relieved; it meant that he cared. Once she was outside, Hannah put in her headphones and headed to the store. She was completely anonymous in the crowds of the city. The only looks she got these days were from men checking her out. It used to be that you couldn’t turn a corner without seeing her face all over the city – advertisements for shows or products, campaigns for recruiting new supes and all the other usual PR bullshit. Now there was no trace of her at all. Goddess had been completely erased from the public memory. Hannah ignored all the images of Homelander that were still plastered around the city and on the products in the store. Once, the mere sight of him would have induced a panic attack, but not anymore. She had spent months working on her traumas with the others, trying her hardest to overcome it all. She would spend hours just talking to Kimiko or Annie. Annie understood better than any of the others how difficult it was for her and would contently spend hours just letting her cry. 

Hannah was true to her word; into the store, get the milk and get back out. No fuss, no commotion, nothing eventful. After paying, she immediately headed back towards the hideout, using the back alleyways to avoid the crowds. As nice as it was vanishing into the crowd, sometimes it was nice to be entirely on her own. The redhead hummed along to the music playing through her headphones, a lazy smile on her lips as she walked down the alleyways. 

“You know, pretty girls like you really shouldn’t be walking down places like this alone.” Hannah stopped dead in her tracks as she heard the voice behind her. Homelander slowly levitated down to the ground, hands on his hips as he greeted Hannah with his usual All-American smile that loomed all over the city.

“You never know what kinda person you’ll run into. You could get hurt.” He took a couple of steps towards her, half expecting her to step back. He was shocked when she stood her ground. 

“What do you want, John?” Hannah asked, a small sigh leaving her as if he was nothing more to her than an inconvenience. 

“Not seen you around for a while, not heard anything from you or about you…it’s like you’ve vanished off the face of the Earth.” He reached out to her, running a finger over her jawline. Instead of flinching from his touch, Hannah merely lifted her chin before jerking her head away from him. 

“Thanks for the concern, but as you can see, I’m fine.” Hannah snapped. “I don’t need you checking up on me like I’m a child.” 

“I know that. You always seem to find me sooner or later…you always come running back…just like fucking drug addict scum, you can’t quit me.” Homelander replied with a small smirk.

“Why are you still doing this, John? Last I heard, you were busy fucking Stormfront and planning your little supe uprising. Why do you still insist on pursuing me?” Hannah’s voice was laced with frustration and before she could say anything else, she was suddenly pushing her back against the brick wall behind her. Clearly that comment hadn’t sat well. Hannah hit it with a grunt, her head hitting the bricks with a harsh thud. He held her arms above her head, smirking darkly as her pale blue eyes glared up at him – not with fear, but with fury. He was about to make a comment about ‘how hot she looked pinned against a wall’ when he noticed her hoodie sleeves had slipped down her forearms. His eyes widened as he caught sight of the angry, jagged scars down her arms. Homelander snatched her arms and forced her sleeves back, fingers running over the scars as he inspected them closely. His mouth was agape, his eyes wide in shock. 

“What the fuck is this?” He asked. Hannah couldn’t tell if he was upset or angry; his tone was a conflicting mix of both. 

“You should really be thanking me. You can feed all this back to the lab and let them know about the effects Compound X has on a supe’s system. This is what four hits and a suicide attempt looks like.” Hannah’s tone and grin were unusually cheery for the situation she was in. She should have been terrified, and yet she was defiant in the presence of the man who had spent years tormenting her, the man who was the soul reason for the scars on her arms. 

“Six hits in total – including the ones you gave me – powers are still here, but serious wounds like these just don’t heal like they used to. Now the outside is just as damaged as the inside – kinda poetic when you stop and think about it. I’m not your picture-perfect Goddess anymore, John. I’m just another person you’ve fucked up.” Hannah chuckled a little, grunting as he pinned her back against the wall, her hands above her head and his chest flush against her own. 

“You tried to kill yourself? Wow, now why would you go and do something so fucking selfish and stupid?” Homelander asked, that sadistic smile still playing on his lips. 

“Because of you, John! After all the shit you have put me through over the years, I thought this was the only way out. I was already in a bad place that night at the tower, but what you did-” Homelander punched the wall beside her head with such force the brickwork crumbled beneath his fist. 

“No, don’t you fucking dare put that one on me!” He growled. “You were the one who came to Vought that night - you came to me! You never told me ‘no’ and not once did you put up a fucking fight! You came to me because you wanted me – you fucking needed me that night and you still do.” He let out a deep chuckle and ran his fingers over her neck, reminiscing about the night at the tower, how beautiful Hannah looked with that leather belt around her neck…her face twisted in a delicious mix of pain and pleasure. 

“Speaking of that night, how did our dear William react when you told him about us? Assuming you did tell him, of course.” With sudden and impressive force, Hannah brought up her leg and kicked Homelander away from her. He flew backwards and slammed into the opposite brick wall with such impact the brickwork was damaged. He looked up at her from the ground, eyes wide in shock and amusement. He quickly checked the back of his head for blood and chuckled at her. 

“Wow! You really have got your fire back!” He was back on his feet and hand Hannah by her throat within seconds. “But you don’t honestly think you can beat me, right?” Hannah didn’t say a word. Instead, she draped her left arm over his and used her right to land a powerful punch across his face before kicking him away again. As he staggered back, Hannah launched herself at him, ducking under his punches, blocking his kicks and swings before landing a hit to his neck. One leg came up to the back of his neck and flipped him over to the ground. Her legs wrapped around his neck and she locked him in an arm bar, pulling his arm away from him. If she wanted to, Hannah could have easily torn his arm from the socket. Homelander swung his weight across and managed to land a punch to Hannah’s face, forcing her to release her hold. As she was stunned, Homelander pinned her to the ground, his knee on her neck to pin her into place. Once again, Hannah swung her legs back and locked them around his neck. She used all her strength to twist free from his hold before shoving him back to the ground. Her knees pinned his shoulders flat to the ground, one fist landing several punches to his face. Homelander jerked and threw her off him, quickly wiping the blood from his nose before spitting some to the ground. He chuckled and got back to his feet, smirking as he saw Hannah ready to attack again. She had blood dripping from her lip and the skin on her cheekbone was broken, blood dripping down her cheek but she seemed completely unphased by it. 

“If I were you, John, I’d quit right now. Won’t be long before people clock Homelander attacking an innocent woman down an alleyway. Really wouldn’t do much good for your numbers, would it? You’re still down three points, last time I checked.” Hannah gave him an arrogant smirk, her eyes glowing hot pink. Homelander returned the grin and wiped the blood from his lip. Hannah’s heart skipped a beat as she saw something in his usually bright blue eyes – a faint swirl of pink. The same shade people’s eyes turned when they were under her influence. 

“Until next time.” With that, he shot up into the skies and vanished. Hannah finally allowed her guard to fall. She leaned forward, hands resting on her knees as she tried to calm her breathing and dull the adrenaline surging through her system. Had that really just happened? Had Homelander been affected by her powers for the first time? She slowly stood upright, clasping her hands behind her head as she let out a few deep breaths. Hannah looked around the alleyway for a moment just to make sure there were no cameras and no witnesses before grabbing her bag and sprinting back to the hideout. Before going inside, she pulled her phone out of her bag and made sure there were no signs of a fight. She wiped the dried blood from her lip and her cheek, smiling in relief to see the cuts and bruises had all healed again before opening the door and heading downstairs. 

“Told you I’d be twenty minutes tops.” Hannah smirked at Billy as she walked past him and into the kitchen, placing the milk in the refrigerator before pulling off her hoodie. Billy, who was lounging on the sofa, returned the smirk and sat up. 

“More like twenty-five, but who’s keepin’ track?” He shifted over as Hannah took a seat beside him, offering him a cigarette as she did. Billy happily took one, pulling the lighter out his pocket and sparking it up before doing the same for Hannah. 

“Aww, are you keeping track because every minute I’m gone is just too much to bear?” She joked and looked over at Hughie, Frenchie and Kimiko who started chuckling. The three of them were sitting in the kitchen around the table eating and drinking, occasionally glancing back to watch the TV. Billy shot the three a warning glance and turned back to Hannah, blowing a puff of smoke in her direction. The redhead closed her eyes, smirk still on her lips as the smoke billowed over her. 

“That must be it. Can’t bear to be apart from ya for a moment, luv.” Hannah laughed and leaned forward to rest her chin on his shoulder. 

“I knew it. Deep down, way, waaaaay down, you absolutely adore me.” She grinned and exhaled her own puff of smoke back into Billy’s face. The others were laughing again, and Hannah couldn’t keep the smile off her face. This was nice. It was all too rare the miserable drug den beneath the pawn shop had any element of cheer to it. 

The rest of the day was spent sat planning the next move. Annie had come back with potential new leads on what Homelander and Stormfront were planning and names and locations of people they needed to talk to. Hughie and MM had immediately agreed to join her and Frenchie and Kimiko also agreed to go in case they needed back up. The last time they followed a lead, they nearly lost Hannah. Safety in numbers and all that – plus two supes was always a bonus. Originally, Hannah had offered to go too, but Billy had insisted that she stayed with him in case anything happened closer to home. Frenchie had joked that it was so the ‘happy couple’ could spend some ‘quality time together.’ Hannah had laughed and Billy had merely responded by flipping him off. But Frenchie had no real idea how right he had been. At first, the two of them had just been lounging on the sofa watching crappy movies, just enjoying the quiet and each other’s company. A couple of hours later, Hannah had been sitting on the kitchen counter, her phone plugged into the charger socket. She was scrolling through her Twitter feed when Billy appeared in front of her. He took her phone out of her hands and gripped her hips, pulling her forward until he could press a deep, passionate kiss to her lips. Hannah moaned against his lips, her legs wrapping around his waist and her fingers running through his hair. She smiled once the kiss was broken and laughed softly. 

“Wow, Frenchie was right. You really did want me all to yourself.” Hannah smirked. “And here I thought it was because you didn’t trust me anymore.” Billy wrapped his arms around her waist and gave her his usual smirk. 

“Course I trust ya, luv. Just wanted ya all t’ myself for a bit. I’m selfish like that.” He leaned forward to press another kiss to her lips, but Hannah moved back slightly, the smile had vanished from her face and she suddenly looked nervous. Billy rose a brow and stood back slightly. 

“Well, that ain’t the look I was expectin’.” Hannah sighed softly and closed her eyes for a moment. 

“I saw him when I went out earlier. Homelander…he must have followed me from the store. Don’t worry, he didn’t follow me here…he left after we fought.” The look on Billy’s face was not one she wanted to see. He looked like he was about to scream. 

“And ya didn’t think t’ bring this up sooner?” 

“I didn’t want this exact situation to happen; especially not in front of the others. Besides, I was fine. I kicked his ass and I think my powers worked on him! His eyes, they weren’t the same…and I wasn’t scared, Billy. For the first time in a fucking long time, I wasn’t scared of him. He has nothing over me anymore.” Hannah said proudly, hoping the confidence in her tone would reassure Billy. He had moved away from her by now, hands resting on the kitchen table, gripping the wooden surface tightly. She could tell he was trying to contain his anger but he was close to cracking. Hannah shuffled off the counter top and stood beside him, carefully placing a hand on his back. 

“Billy, we can use this. I know Homelander better than anyone else, if I can get close to him again, maybe we could-” Before she could tell him what she had planned, Billy interrupted her. 

“No, do not say another fuckin’ word!” He snapped harshly through gritted teeth. “We ain’t doin’ that – you ain’t fuckin’ doin’ that, you understand?” Hannah scoffed and followed him as he stormed away from her. 

“What? Why not? It’s the best shot we have at getting better information on what they’re planning! He still thinks there’s something between us, I can do this, Billy!” She insisted, trying to keep her own anger from boiling over. Billy stopped in his tracks and turned on his heel to face her. 

“Hannah, you ain’t fuckin’ goin’ near the cunt again, ya hear? Sure, ya had one victory over him on his own, but what about next time, hm? In case you’ve forgotten, the cunt has Stormfront with him now – that’s two of the fuckers t’ contend with. What if they find out your little plan and all of a sudden, he sees that he don’t need ya anymore, and that Stormfront is all he needs? You’re fuckin’ dead. We’ll find another way.” Billy turned away from her again and was about to head into the bedroom when she caught his arm and held him in place. 

“So that’s it? You don’t think I’m strong enough?” Hannah was preparing herself for a full-on fight, but as he spun around again, a fury of passion and emotion erupted from him. 

“I can’t lose ya again!” He shouted, hands gripping Hannah’s arms tightly. Her blue eyes widened in shock and she felt like all the air had been knocked from her lungs as Billy dropped his head, a small choked sob leaving him. She had never seen him like this before. It was enough to shake her. 

“I almost lost ya t’ him twice now, luv…I can’t risk it a third time. I ain’t strong enough…” Hannah gently lifted up Billy’s chin and gazed into his eyes. She had never seen him sound that defeated before. It broke her seeing him look like that. 

“That sounds like defeat, Butcher…and in case you’ve forgotten, there’s no defeat in this dojo.” Hannah gave him a small smirk as she echoed the very words he’d uttered back at the hospital and Billy let out a weak chuckle.

“I’m sorry, Billy…you’re right; I am still recovering from all the shit I’ve been through. I shouldn’t have even thought about doing something as reckless as that.” Billy let out a soft sigh and stood upright, pulling Hannah into his arms. He looked down at her and gave her a small smile.

“Ya mean the fuckin’ world t’ me, luv. I just don’t wanna see ya get hurt again.” Hannah gave him a sweet smile and pushed herself up on her tip toes to kiss him gently; something Billy had always found adorable about Hannah was her height. She was five feet of pure fire and he loved it. It was somehow strange to Hannah that after everything she had endured, the only constant in her life anymore was Billy Butcher. He was always there for her; ready to stop her doing something stupid, ready to pull her back from the edge and always there with the tough love when her stubborn self required it. 

“I don’t know what I’d do without you, Billy.” She said softly. “Well, actually, I do. I’d be dead.” Billy chuckled and pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head. He held her there in his arms for a while longer, enjoying the closeness and the quiet. It had been a long time now since the two of them had spent any time alone, so Billy liked to make the most of it whenever they got the chance. After a moment, Billy looked down at her with a devious smirk. 

“What’s the smirk for, Butcher?” Hannah asked with a little grin of her own. Billy reached up and gently stroked her cheek, smirk softening into a smile as she leaned into his touch. 

“How long has it been since I’ve had you alone?” The smirk appeared back on his lips again and his hands trailed down over her back to rest on her hips for a moment before reaching back to cup her ass. Hannah hummed in thought and tapped a finger to her jaw in exaggerated thought. 

“Easily been four, maybe five weeks.” 

“Five weeks? Fuckin’ hell, that’s far too long.” 

Hannah let out a little squeak as Billy pushed her backwards. She stumbled over the arm of the sofa and landed with a soft bounce. Within seconds, Billy was on top of her, attacking her lips with needy, passionate kisses. Hannah melted into each kiss, parting her lips and letting him slide his tongue inside. He couldn’t help but notice the faint taste of cherries and bubble gum. Hannah reached beneath the ridiculous patterned shirt he was wearing and ran her nails down his back before reaching between them to unbutton it. He shrugged the shirt off and discarded it across the room before capturing Hannah’s lips again. She moaned softly into his kiss and shifted around until their positions were switched and she was straddling his lap. Hannah smirked down at him and pulled her faded Jimi Hendrix t-shirt over her head before throwing it across the room. Billy let out a groan and reached his hands up to squeeze Hannah’s black, lace covered breasts. She bit her lip and let her eyes fall shut as he sat upright, pulling her flush against his chest. Billy reached up and brushed her loose red waves from her face, his hand gently cupping her cheek. Hannah nuzzled into his touch and smiled lovingly at him. 

“I love ya, Hannah.” Billy’s voice was barely above a whisper, but his words were enough to make the redhead smile brightly. She was practically glowing. 

“I love you too, Billy.” With those words spoken, Billy cupped her face and pressed a deep, passionate kiss to her lips again. Hannah nipped at his bottom lip until he parted them, her tongue sliding into his mouth to savour the familiar tobacco and alcoholic laced kiss that was undeniably Billy Butcher. Hannah reached between them and unbuckled his belt before sliding off his lap with a grin. Billy swung his legs around and adjusted himself, a wide smirk over his face as he watched Hannah seductively slide down her jeans. She swayed her hips, playing with the waistband of her black lace panties for a moment. 

“Ya fuckin’ killin’ me, luv.” Billy groaned. Hannah merely smirked at him before sliding back onto his lap. 

“A girl needs a little fun.” Her voice was deep and dripping with lust as she rocked her hips against him, her hands coming up to rest on his shoulders. Billy rest his hands on her hips, groaning in frustration as Hannah continued to tease him. The redhead grinned at his reaction and leaned forward to nip at his neck, her tongue and teeth grazing over all the spots that made him buck his hips and moan in need. She reached between them and ran her hand over the bulge in Billy’s pants, pulling him free and giving him a few teasing strokes before positioning him at her entrance. 

“Say it again…” Hannah purred against his ear, slowly circling her hips a little. 

“I love you…I fuckin’ love ya, Hannah.” Billy replied softly, thumbs now digging into her hips so hard he was sure Hannah would have bruises later on. He let out a deep, guttural groan and threw his head back as Hannah lowered herself onto him, a shudder running down her spine as she felt the delicious stretch of his cock inside her. Hannah remained still for a moment, adjusting to his girth before slowly raising and lowering herself again. Billy looked up at her and smirked; she looked so fucking beautiful like this. He reached up with one hand and pulled her down for a messy, wanton kiss. It didn’t take long for Hannah to set the rhythm; her hips rocking and circling on his. Billy’s grip on her hips had tightened with one hand whilst the other had reached up to rest on the back of her head, holding her in place as he devoured her lips with frenzied kisses. It was only in moments like this did the two of them realise how long it had been since the last time and how difficult it was becoming to hide the true nature of their relationship. 

“Fuck…so good…” Hannah moaned softly against his lips, a soft gasp leaving her as Billy thrust his hips up, meeting each of her movements with his own. Her reaction only fuelled his ego and his grip on her hips tightened to hold her in place as he became thrusting harder and faster. Hannah’s moaning and panting grew louder, and when mixed with Billy’s animalistic groaning, muted all other sounds in the room. Even the sound of the door opening. 

“Well, that was a waste of time, and a waste of fuel for that…matter…” Hughie stopped dead in his tracks midway down the stairs when he saw Billy and Hannah on the sofa. His jaw agape, he looked back at the others, all of whom were in just as much shock as he was. 

“I knew it! I fucking knew it!” Frenchie exclaimed with a wide smile. Billy and Hannah froze in place, wide eyes shot towards the staircase where they were met with the shocked and elated faces of their friends. Hannah had practically gone the same colour as her hair and let out a little chuckle. 

“Busted.” She whispered to Billy with a small smile, slowly sliding off his lap before pulling one of the cushions over herself. Billy adjusted himself with a somewhat irritated scowl and zipped his jeans back up, securing his belt before heading across the room to gather his shirt and Hannah’s clothes. 

“What did I say to you, huh? I knew that there was something going on!” Frenchie was like a kid at Christmas as he ran down the stairs, pulling Billy into an affectionate hug, a smirk on his lips as the Brit pushed him away. 

“Why didn’t you just tell us?” MM asked with an embarrassed hint to his tone. If anything, he was more embarrassed than Billy and Hannah were; well, with the possible exception of Hughie who was in the corner with Annie trying to calm him down. 

“It was on a ‘need to know’ basis, and you bunch o’ cunts didn’t need t’ know.” Billy replied with his usual level of sarcasm as he headed into the kitchen to grab a beer from the refrigerator. Hannah finished dressing herself, pulling her knees up to her chest as Kimiko came to sit beside her, a wide, girlish grin on her lips. Hannah let out a childish laugh as Kimiko pulled her into a hug, signing ‘I’m happy for you.’ Hannah didn’t know much about the signing Kimiko used, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out what she was saying in times like this. 

“What Billy means is we didn’t want any distractions from the matter in hand.” Hannah replied with a smile. Billy nodded and held up his bottle of beer. 

“What she said.” He responded with a grin. 

“This calls for a celebration!” Frenchie beamed, grabbing a beer of his own out of the refrigerator. He took the pack out and went around handing one to all the others. Hannah could barely stop herself from laughing. She loved that Frenchie thought it was a big deal, even if she didn’t really understand why. Perhaps it was the Frenchman in him, happy at the prospect of two dear friends being in love. Perhaps it was because he knew that both of them had experienced enough pain and suffering and deserved to feel something other than rage and misery for once. 

“To Hannah and Billy.” The others all raised their bottles and toasted to them both before drinking. Billy looked over to Hannah and winked at her before giving her a little smirk. 

“If you bunch of cunts are done with the all the happy couple shite, I’m gonna take it that little trip was a bunch of bollocks?” Billy asked in an attempt to steer the conversation away from his love life. MM explained that when they arrived at each location, the people either flat out refused to talk to them, or Vought had gotten to them first and had them killed; well, either that or Stormfront was doing literally everything to cover her tracks and not risk exposure. They were running out of options, especially now that they knew Annie was working with them. 

“Well, we do have one option…” Hannah said softly. Billy looked up at her, his eyes full of desperation and despair. He knew what she was going to say and he knew he’d have no choice but to agree this time, especially since Vought now knew Annie was working alongside them. 

“Homelander still thinks there’s something between the two of us. If I can convince him he’s right and get close to him again, maybe I can get some information?” 

“No, no way, Hannah, that’s too risky. We can’t ask you to do something like that.” MM replied with a shake of his head. 

“You’re not asking me. I’m asking you. I know this last year has been – well, a literal living hell for me – but I can do this. I know I can…” Hannah looked over at Billy, her eyes wide with hope and anticipation as she waited for him to shut her down again. 

“Do ya really think you’ve got a shot with this?” He asked. Hannah took a deep breath and nodded confidently. 

“I know Homelander better than anyone else in this room, and most of the people at Vought and if things go wrong, I’m stronger now and I know I can beat him at his own game this time around. All I need is one shot. I go in, get what I need from him and get out again.” Billy ran a hand through his hair and took a deep breath. 

“What choice have we got?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _"Come to me,  
>  Trust in your dream,  
> Come on and rescue me,  
> Yes I have known,  
> I can be wrong,  
> Maybe I'm too headstrong,  
> Our love is madness." _


	4. Why Can't I Stay?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All I can say is please don't hate me for this one!

Hannah ran a hand through her blonde locks and looked up at Vought Tower. The city lights shone bright in the dark night around her; the traffic and crowds still active around her. She pulled her phone from her bag as she heard the little jingle of a ringtone. A text from Billy. He’d spent the last few weeks desperately trying to convince her not to go through with this plan, that there would be another way, but Hannah knew she had to do this. It was their best chance at getting the information they needed to bring down Stormfront and Homelander once and for all. She didn’t like it any more than he did – not really. The thought of looking like she was crawling back to Homelander made her skin crawl in the most uncomfortable way possible. But Hannah was different now. She wasn’t afraid of Homelander anymore. He had no power over her and that would be enough for her to do what she needed to do. 

_“Good luck, Han. Don’t do anything stupid.”_ She smiled a little at the message and slid her phone back into her bag and got into character; smoothing her floral sundress dress down and bringing tears to her eyes before heading up the steps and into the building. Night time was always the best time to go to Vought Tower; fewer staff and fewer visitors. The last thing she wanted or needed to do right now was cause a scene. She headed over to the front desk, a soft sob leaving her to get the attention of the young man sitting behind the desk. 

“Welcome to Vought International, how may I-?” He stopped when he looked up from the computer, smiling face changing to shock as he looked at the woman before him. 

“It’s you. Goddess…oh my god, you’re back!” The young man got out of his chair and backed away. She recognised him now; the night she came for Homelander, he had been behind the same desk. She had put him under her influence. He looked as if he was going for security when Hannah held her hands up. 

“I’m not here to fight…please…I just need to see Homelander…please…” Hannah continued to whimper and sob, her lip quivering as she tried to hold back her melodramatic tears. The young man gulped and took a tentative step forward. Before he had the chance to do anything though, a voice came from the top of the staircase. 

“Hannah?” She turned at the sound of her name and saw him floating there. He looked concerned and shocked. 

“John…” Hannah squeaked out his name and dropped to the floor, finally letting the tears fall heavy. Immediately, Homelander rushed over to the crying blonde, kneeling beside her. 

“You were right all along…about Butcher, about all of them…they were using me…” Hannah cried softly. Homelander gave her a reassuring smile and pulled her into his arms. Hannah balled her fists against his chest and sobbed against him as he stroked her hair and hushed her. He shot a glare at the man behind the desk; a silent warning not to call security before sweeping Hannah up in his arms and taking her upstairs to the penthouse. He never could resist a damsel in distress. 

Hannah sat on the sofa in Homelander’s private room, knees pulled up to her chest as he worked his charm on the security guards who had come to check he was alright. As if he needed checking up on – he was the fucking Homelander, one of the strongest, most powerful men on the planet. She wiped her eyes as he closed the door and turned back to her. He was giving her that pitiful smile she hated so much, his hands folded behind his back as he watched her. Hannah had spun Homelander a story about finding out Billy and the others were just using her to mess with him, making her feel like part of the team to alienate her from him and making her feel loved so she’d stay. She had told him fake plans and plots, anything he would have wanted to hear. This had been planned out carefully for weeks now, ever since the last plan went under. Hannah had been training harder than ever before with the others, saying she needed to be prepared for anything. Annie had kept her up to date on everything that was going on between Homelander and Stormfront and Hannah had laid out her intentions. 

“I hate to say it, Hannah, but I told you so.” Homelander wrapped an arm around her and pulled her closer to him, desperately trying to keep the smug smirk from his lips. Instead, the look he gave her was condescending. 

“You were right about everything. You really are the only one who has ever cared for me, John.” Hannah replied softly, tearful blue eyes gazing up at him. He gave her a soft smile – a victorious one not to be confused with genuine affection - and gently brushed the tears from her eyes. 

“I told you I was…and I told you that you’d always come back to me…” He brushed a blonde curl behind her ear and leaned down to press a soft kiss to her lips. Hannah would have loved nothing more than to bite down on his tongue and rip it from his skull right now, but she had to play the part, had to seen vulnerable and desperate. Instead, she allowed herself to melt into this kiss.

“What about Stormfront? Aren’t you two…?” Hannah asked against his lips. Homelander gently cupped her face in his hands. 

“Don’t you worry about Stormfront. I’ll talk to her.” His smile was reassuring this time, though it did little to put her mind at ease. She just nodded and let Homelander press his lips to hers again. Hannah reached up and rest her hand on his cheek, thumb gently brushing over his cheekbone as he deepened the kiss, tongue running over her lower lip until she parted them and let his tongue dominate the kiss. Hannah let her mind wander to her happy place. The method always worked when she was a child and her father came in for his nightly visit. She would let the world melt away and go somewhere safe. As a child, her safe place had been some far away wonderland filled with magic, castles and unicorns. This time, her happy place was with Billy. She imagined it was him kissing her, his hands pulling her onto his lap and sliding up her dress. Hannah had to force herself to forget about the little bug she had placed by the television in the room when Homelander had been distracted by the security guards – something Frenchie had come up with for her. It was tiny, shaped like a cigarette lighter and completely inconspicuous.

* * *

Billy’s brow furrowed in anger as he watched the scene unfold on his laptop. Sure, he was happy that Hannah’s plan was going well so far – she seemed to have Homelander fooled and the camera in place – but seeing him touch her, kiss her and watching her pretend to enjoy it was absolutely killing him. He should have closed the laptop, claimed blissful ignorance; and yet he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the scene before him. He pulled a cigarette from the box in his pocket and lit it up, taking long drags between sips of whiskey. He was going to fucking kill him for this. Billy was going to watch every single moment of the footage and commit everything to memory. All fuel for when he finally got his hands on Homelander. He’d make him pay for every finger he laid on Hannah, every kiss placed to her lips and every thrust inside her. As well as everything he was already responsible for, Homelander would pay for this too. 

Over the other side of the hideout, Frenchie and Kimiko were hard at work. They were attempting to modify the Compound X to use against Homelander. He had concluded that if the current chemical levels in the drug were only just enough to temporarily pause Hannah’s powers, a much higher dosage would be needed to have the same effect on Homelander. As there was pretty much no chance of being able to inject him with multiple doses, the only other option was the make the doses they had stronger. It was going to take a lot of time, but Frenchie insisted that drugs were his specialty and that he could do this. All part of the final plan.

* * *

This had been the longest and the hardest three months of Hannah’s life. With every passing day, it was becoming harder and harder to keep up this façade of the supe she used to be. The first two months had been an influx of all the carefully planned public appearances, all the people preening her hair, her clothes, her makeup; it was becoming torture. The media were all a flood with rumours of Goddess returning to The Seven now that Starlight was out and by month three, it was made official. Hannah had spent hours in a meeting with Stan Edgar, the board of Vought directors and Homelander who all agreed the time had come to bring Goddess back. She signed her soul away for the second time in her life to Vought and had to pretend that it was the proudest and happiest moment of her life. Homelander had pulled her to one side and had quietly boasted about how it was his idea to bring her back and how she owed everything to him now. She could have lost it there and then, punched him in his smug face and stormed away; but instead, she giggled that girlish laugh he loved and thanked him. 

When she had managed to slip away from Vought and all the cameras, she went straight back to the pawn shop hideout where the boys had been gathered around the television, watching her official press conference confirming her return to The Seven. Everyone had been impressed; months of hard covert work was finally falling into place. She was doing so well. Billy, however, was pissed. Pissed that the plan was taking so long, pissed that he felt like they were on standby whilst Hannah worked her magic, and pissed about her spending so much time with Homelander. 

_“Ya really seem t’ be enjoyin’ your time in front of the cameras again.”_ Billy pointed towards the television where footage of a smiling Hannah stood beside Edgar and Homelander, waving at the cameras. 

_“What am I supposed to do? Look miserable? Protest? It’s fucking exhausting being back in The Seven – back in the public eye. All the people constantly touching up makeup, my hair, my outfit – I hate it, but I’ve got to keep up appearances, Billy.”_ Hannah replied, folding her arms across her chest. 

_“Keepin’ up appearances? That what ya callin’ it now? ‘Cause t’ me, it looks like maybe you’re enjoying bein’ back in the limelight a little too much – bein’ back with Homelander a little too much.”_

_“You really think I’m enjoying being back there with him?”_

_“Ya seem t’ be enjoyin’ your little night time fuck sessions with him.”_ Hannah had slapped him after that, hard, a scowl on her delicate face. 

_“You’ve been watching the footage? You really think that it’s genuine affection you’re seeing? I hate doing that, Billy. I feel disgusting being with him – physically sick. You think that every moment I’m with him I’m not thinking of you? How fucking dare you.”_ Hannah had stormed up the stairs after that, the others glaring harshly at Billy until he followed her, stopping her before she got to the front door. 

_“I’m sorry, luv. I’m really fuckin’ sorry. I’m missin’ ya is all, and I can’t fuckin’ stand seein’ ya with the cunt…watchin’ him touch ya…”_ Hannah held a hand up to him and shook her head. 

_“Stop. Please. I get it, ok? But I have no other choice, Billy. I need him to trust me completely, and right now, he does. I can’t risk that.”_ She cupped his cheek and pushed herself up onto her tip toes to kiss him gently. 

_“Stop watching the fucking tapes.”_ Hannah had warned him before turning to leave the shop. As she reached out to the door handle, she stopped and turned back to Billy. 

_“Fuck it. One for the road?”_ Hannah had smiled at him, tears in her eyes as she strode over to him and captured him in a deep, passionate kiss. Billy’s fingers tangled in her hair, gently holding her in place as he showered her with kisses. 

_“I fuckin’ love ya, Han.”_

_“I love you too, Billy. Don’t fucking forget that.”_

* * *

Another month had passed since then, Goddess was well and truly back in The Seven. In such a short space of time, everything had changed. Her face gazed out over the entire city; you couldn’t turn a corner without seeing her in a line up with the rest of The Seven, advertisements for her new makeup line or trailers for her new reality tv dating show. It had been exhausting. Between filming, press releases and scheduled criminal takedowns, Hannah had barely had the chance to do what she was supposed to be doing – finding information on Homelander and Stormfront’s plans. Her updates to the boys were becoming more and more infrequent as the weeks went on and she knew that before long, she would need to quit. It was taking a toll on her physically and mentally. Last thing she wanted to do was have another attempt on her life. 

Hannah groaned a little as she woke up, rolling away from the bright light streaming in through the window. She sat up suddenly when she was greeted with an empty bed, part of her expecting to find Billy beside her. She still wasn’t used to waking up without him there. Her eyes darted around the room and she jumped as she saw Homelander sitting across from her in her small white leather arm chair. She absolutely hated it when he came into her room without permission – which was admittedly most of the time. He was back in his uniform, watching her with his usual smile. 

“Good morning, sleepy head.” He cooed, standing up from the chair before heading over to Hannah. Homelander pressed a soft kiss to her forehead and looked down at her before sitting beside her on the bed, pulling her onto his lap. 

“Sleep well?” Hannah nodded softly and looked up at him with loving eyes and a sweet smile. He let out a small chuckle and Hannah leaned forward to kiss his cheek. Homelander spent a moment just admiring the blonde in all her beauty before clearing his throat, sliding her off his lap and standing up. 

“You should get dressed. We need to have a chat.” He smiled before leaving the room. Hannah quirked a brow and took a deep breath, pulling her knees up to her chest. She headed into the bathroom and took a quick shower, drying her hair before getting dressed in the same dress from the night before. Everything she wore, the way she styled her hair, everything had all been carefully planned out. Hannah knew the way Homelander liked her to look when she wasn’t in the ridiculous costume Vought had her wear – sweet, pure and elegant. That meant cute dresses, her hair in loose waves and no makeup. When they had first been together, he always made sure to tell her every day that she was beautiful and that she didn’t need makeup – ‘let your natural beauty shine.’ She hated dressing like this. Hannah had gone back to feeling like a doll now that she was back at Vought; someone always telling her how she should look. Just a pretty, porcelain doll all dressed up and on display for everyone to see. But if it meant keeping him convinced, she would endure it. 

Hannah’s heart practically skipped a beat as she headed into her lounge. Homelander was standing there with Stormfront, the two of them had been chatting until Hannah walked in. 

“Perfect.” Homelander smiled over in her direction and Hannah was nervous. The two of them were looking at her with an almost predatory gaze. Had Homelander figured out her plan? Did he know she had spent months him and the rest of Vought for idiots and had called Stormfront to help finish her off? 

“Please, take a seat.” It sounded like a request, but Hannah knew him better than that. Immediately, she sat down on the sofa, looking up at them like a terrified child about to be told off by their parents.

“You sure we can trust her with this?” Stormfront asked, eyeing Hannah with suspicion and curiosity. 

“Of course. I wouldn’t have suggested it if I didn’t think we could.” Homelander replied, giving Hannah a reassuring smile and a wink. 

“What is this about?” Hannah asked, eyes darting back and forth between the two, her heart pounding in her chest. 

“Well, after John here found out the truth about Becca Butcher and his son, and with some resistance still being shown by the public regarding releasing Compound V, we had an idea. Instead of relying on Compound V and Vought to make supes, why don’t we make them…naturally?” Stormfront shrugged, a grin on her lips. Hannah felt as if all the breath had been forced from her lungs. 

“Remember when I told you we could make an army of perfect little supes?” He smirked. 

“Obviously we can’t have just anyone making the next generation of supes. We only want the best genetics possible, and we can’t do it alone.” Stormfront examined Hannah for a moment, making the blonde feel incredibly uncomfortable. 

“We both think you would be a perfect fit.” Stormfront gave her a smile and Homelander stepped forward to wrap an arm around her, a bright smile appearing on his face. 

“Well, what do you think? You in?” He asked. What did she think? Were they fucking insane? An army of natural born supes? Well, at least she would have something to tell the others. Hannah looked up at them and gave them a bright, if not somewhat nervous, smile. 

“I think it’s a great idea.” 

That afternoon, after a photoshoot for the release of her new ‘flawless foundation,’ Hannah had met up with Hughie and Annie in the park. Now that she had Vought’s tracking chip implanted in her neck again, she couldn’t risk going directly to the hideout. She couldn’t risk meeting Billy in public either. If they were caught together, they’d both be completely fucked. Hannah lowered her sunglasses and smiled at Hughie and Annie as she sat beside them on the bench. 

“Whatever you’ve found, it must be important if you’ve ran out on a Sephora shoot.” Annie joked. Hannah laughed softly and nodded. 

“I know what they’re planning – Stormfront and Homelander. They want to start making supes – the natural way. If you check the footage from the hidden camera, it’ll all be on there.” She replied. Annie and Hughie looked at each other, shock and confusion on their faces. 

“Since Homelander found out about Becca and Ryan, it’s changed his whole mindset. He knows that supes can have kids naturally and that they’re likely to be born with powers similar to their parents. It’s like a fall-back plan if congress manage to block the release of Compound V to the public.” 

“How did you get them to talk?” Hughie asked. 

“I didn’t. They propositioned me. They want me to be part of it.” Hannah ran a hand through her hair and thought for a moment. “Something Stormfront said to me caught me though. Something about wanting the best genetics possible…I mean, I know she’s a fucking right-wing nut job, but it sounded so…” Hannah didn’t know how to describe it. 

“They want to build a master race…with supes as the masters.” Annie finished for her. Hannah immediately nodded. 

“Exactly! We need to see if we can find any direct connection to right-wing groups. If we can get any evidence, that’ll be enough to bring her down. There’s no way she’ll be able to talk her way out of it.” Hannah replied with a confident smile.

“We’ll look into it, see if we can find anything solid to connect Stormfront to Liberty.” Hughie nodded softly. 

“You’re doing so well, Hannah.” Annie gave her a reassuring smile and pulled her into a hug. Hannah let out a deep sigh and hugged her back. 

“Speaking of which, how are you feeling? You know…” Hughie asked. Hannah sat back a little and shrugged. 

“It’s hard. I’ve had some days where I’ve just wanted to jump off the roof of the tower…but I don’t want to deal with the pain of the impact or of my bones fusing back together.” She replied with a weak chuckle. 

“But don’t worry. I’m alright…I can do this.” Hannah reassured them. 

Shortly after, she had headed back to Vought Tower, apologising to Ashley for leaving the shoot early. She made up an excuse about her aunt and uncle being in town and being desperate to see them after so long. Of course, Ashley believed her and Hannah promised she wouldn’t let it happen again. All she wanted now was a shower and to go to bed; maybe a quick phone call to Billy if she had time. For the time she had been there, Hannah had been hiding an extra mobile phone in a zinc lined box in her bathroom. She used it whenever she needed to urgently contact the others, or if she wanted to speak with Billy. As her time away from him dragged out, she found herself missing him more and more. She just wanted all this to be over, for them all to be safe so they could get on with their lives. The last time she had spoken to him a few weeks ago, they joked about running off to Tahiti once all this was over. Hannah couldn’t lie, Tahiti sounded nice right now. But that would be a thought for another day. She couldn’t afford to get distracted right now. Not when so much was at stake. She needed to get information on Stormfront – anything that would incriminate her. All Hannah knew for sure was that she wanted this to be over sooner rather than later. It would mean having to take more risks, but it would be worth it. As Hannah turned the corner to head to her room, she was met by a hard wall of pure muscle and would have fallen backwards if it weren’t for the hand that swiftly wrapped around her waist. 

“Hannah! Just the girl I’ve been looking for.” Homelander grinned, pulling her back to her feet. The blonde laughed softly. 

“I’m sorry, John, I wasn’t looking where I was going. A little scattered today.” She replied with a small smile. 

“Yeah, Ashley mentioned you had family in town, aunt and uncle, right?” He asked, folding his arms across his chest. Hannah nodded. 

“Yeah, I’ve not seen them for a long time, they live in Ohio. It was nice seeing them again.” She gave him another small smile and went to step past him, but he quickly blocked her path. 

“Ah, ah! Not so fast! Like I said, I’ve been looking for you.” Homelander reached out and gently wrapped one of Hannah’s curls around his fingers. 

“You haven’t told anyone about what we discussed earlier, have you?” Hannah looked up at him, her brows furrowed. 

“No? Why would I?” Homelander stared at her for a short while, examining her for any quirks or slips in her cover. She knew fully well that he could read her; all her vitals signs, could tell if she were lying. Over the time she’d been back in The Seven, Hannah had gotten good at lying to him. Either that, or he was getting good at hiding his true intentions – well, more so than he already was. 

“I was just thinking…perhaps we could make a start tonight?” Homelander smirked at her and gave the lock of hair around his finger a little tug before letting it spiral off. Hannah let out a soft laugh and forced a light blush to colour her cheeks. 

“I’m flattered, but if it’s all the same, I just want to rest tonight. It’s been a long day.” Once again, Hannah went to move past him, but he pressed a hand to her chest and held her against the wall, leaning down to press a soft kiss to her neck. 

“You sure…? I’m sure I can find other ways to relieve you after a long day…” He whispered against her ear, teeth grazing at the lobe. 

“I said no, John…please…” Hannah’s eyes glowed pink as she pushed him back slightly. It was there again in his eyes again, just like when they fought in the alleyway – that faint swirl of pink staining the blues of his eyes. To her surprise, Homelander stood upright and gave her a sweet smile, holding up his hands. 

“Alright, alright. But if you change your mind, you know where I am.” With that, he gave her that All-American grin, winked at her and left. Hannah’s heart was pounding in her chest. Her powers worked on him. He had been under her influence again. Hannah let out a soft gasp and immediately held her hands to her mouth so she wouldn’t laugh out loud before practically running back to her room. This was big. Either she was getting stronger, or Homelander was getting weaker. Whichever it was, Hannah could use this to her advantage. Homelander must know plenty about Stormfront – they’d been fucking for long enough – she must have given something away; either that or Homelander’s paranoia would have pushed her to share something with him. If she could get him to talk and get it on camera, that would be one step in the right direction. Hannah headed into her bathroom and quickly fixed her hair, grabbing her cigarettes and the lighter with the hidden camera before heading down the halls towards Homelander’s room. She gently knocked on the door and waited for him to answer. When the door opened, she was greeted with that same smiling face. 

“I changed my mind.” Hannah said softly, smiling as he stepped aside to let her in. Hannah immediately placed her cigarettes and the lighter down on the table, only to turn when she heard Homelander tut behind her. 

“Smoking? Really? Christ, you’re almost as bad as Maeve is. I never could stand the taste.” Homelander dropped onto his sofa and Hannah shrugged softly. 

“Everyone has a vice. This is mine.” She replied before moving over to him, swaying her hips seductively as she did. Homelander smirked and leaned back in his seat as Hannah straddled his lap, reaching up to cup his face in her hands as she kissed him. 

“And here was me thinking I was your vice, as you seem completely unable to quit me.” He smirked against her lips. 

“I’d be stupid to quit you, John…I know that now.” Hannah’s lips ghosted over his jawline and down to his neck, gently kissing and nipping at the exposed skin. Homelander moaned under her touch, shifting in his seat as Hannah rocked her hips against his. With a little smirk, Hannah looked up at him and gave him a seductive grin. 

“So, tell me more about Stormfront.” Her eyes flashed pink and she watched as the same colour swirled in Homelander’s eyes. He looked up at her and smiled for a moment before his brows furrowed and he shook his head a little. 

“I don’t wanna talk about her right now. Not when I have you demanding my attention.” Hannah bit her lip and ran her hands over his chest, circling her hips over his. He groaned again and bucked his hips a little, head falling back as he let out a small chuckle. When Homelander looked back up, Hannah’s eyes were glowing pink again. 

“I’d really like to talk about her, John…” She purred against his ear, teeth grazing over the lobe. This time, Homelander’s eyes remained flooded the same shade of pink and he gazed up at her with pure adoration. She had him deep under her spell. Perfect. 

“What do you want to know, my Goddess?” He asked with a dreamy smile. Hannah remained seated on his lap; eyes now locked with his. On an average person, she wouldn’t need to keep them locked in her gaze for her powers to work; one look was all it usually took. But Homelander wasn’t the average person. He was much stronger, and she couldn’t risk the connection being broken. 

“Just tell me everything you know about her…no detail is irrelevant…” She replied softly. That was the only prompt she needed. After that, Homelander told her everything she wanted to hear; all the dirty little details of Stormfront’s past, her connections to the Nazi party, to a string of hate crimes. It was perfect. All she would need now was hard evidence, and that would have to wait until she could gain access to Stormfront’s room. 

“Perfect. Thank you, John.” Hannah grinned, slowly moving off his lap. “I’m going to leave now. You’re going to forget I came here tonight. When you see me in the morning, you won’t remember this encounter at all. You’re going to let me walk out of here, and as soon as I do, you’re going to fall asleep.” She smiled, grabbing her cigarettes and her lighter from the table. 

“Of course, anything you say, my Goddess.” Homelander replied, a bright smile on his face. With that, Hannah left his room, a wide grin on her face. The second she was back in her room, she locked herself in the bathroom, turned on the shower and called Billy. 

“I got him to talk, Billy. I got information on Stormfront.”

* * *

Hannah slept well that night. The plan was finally coming together. All she needed to do now was get into Stormfront’s room and find some hard evidence to back up what Homelander had told her the night before. She knew fully well that his taped confession would never be enough to prove anything. Lawyers could easily tear that all apart; confession under duress – she had used her powers on him, without any actual evidence, Homelander could merely by lying; making up a false narrative to feed vicious rumours about Stormfront. They still needed something official – files, photos, records, anything like that. Naturally, Hannah wanted to do that as soon as she woke up, but Ashley had other ideas for her. She had a meet and greet with fans alongside Queen Maeve to announce the release of their new fashion line – that was fucking news to her – and she was filming for her TV show. It was becoming absolutely exhausting trying to balance being a part of The Seven and a part of The Boys. But what choice did she have but to endure? This was her plan after all. 

The day dragged longer than Hannah thought was possible. As nice as it was getting to meet some of her young fans – girls who looked up to her, some who had come dressed like her, people who loved her when she was in The Seven the first time – the constant jeering and sexualisation from some of her male fans was too much to bear sometimes. It wasn’t like she could flip them off, fight them or use her powers on them whilst she was out in public. All she could do was grin and bear it. The filming was an absolute nightmare – who knew presenting a dating show could be so fucking tedious? After getting a call from Frenchie, Hannah had quickly changed out of her supe outfit – that god awful off-gold silk toga, gold gauntlets and strappy high heels that were impractical to walk in, let alone fight - and met him at the park to retrieve his modified Compound X. If anything went wrong, it would be a good thing to have close. When she finally arrived back at the tower, she’d had no choice but to use her powers on Ashley. She hadn’t shut up all day and she was driving Hannah insane. She had managed to get her to go away after telling her what Stormfront’s schedule was for that day. Perfect. Right now, she was with Homelander trying to rally the public’s support for the release of Compound V. Now was the best chance she was going to get. Fortunately, it was easy enough to get into the private rooms at Vought ever since Frenchie had taught her to pick a lock. The hardest part was making sure the floor was clear when she broke in. Last thing she wanted to do right now was use her powers on half of the staff at Vought. 

Once the lock was successfully opened, Hannah smiled and quietly crept into Stormfront’s room, closing the door behind her. She quickly checked that the Compound X was still secure in the small leather holster pouch strapped to her leg. Once satisfied, Hannah began her search. She was careful to make sure that anything she touched was replaced exactly as she found it. She couldn’t have anyone getting suspicious. Hannah was about to give up all hope of finding anything. There was nothing incriminating at all in Stormfront’s room to be found. Until she stumbled on she small chest in her lounge. Curious, Hannah cleared the cushions off it and opened it. Jackpot. Hannah’s jaw fell open as she examined the contents: the outfit she wore as Liberty and best of all, a photo album. Images of her on her wedding day decades ago, stood with husband Frederick Vought in front of the Nazi party flag, photos of her with Heinrich Himmler, Josef Goebbels and Adolf Hitler. Hannah had hit the right-wing jackpot. She pulled her phone from the pouch on her thigh and immediately photographed the contents. Naturally, she wanted to grab it all and run. But if Stormfront found the contents of the trunk missing, she would have the upper hand. She could say that the photos were doctored, all fakes, say the costume belonged to her mother or was for a costume party. She couldn’t afford to give her the upper hand. 

“Find everything you’re looking for?” Hannah froze in place the second she heard the voice behind her. Fuck. Now she was in trouble. She slowly stood, holding her hands up as she turned to face Stormfront. 

“You sneaky little bitch. I knew we couldn’t trust you.” She snapped, closing the gap between them. Hannah went to speak but Stormfront immediately held up a hand to stop her. 

“Don’t even fucking try to talk your way out of this one, princess! Pretty hard to when you’ve been caught red-handed.” 

“Well, can’t blame a girl for trying.” Hannah replied with a small shrug before throwing the first punch. Stormfront immediately retaliated, throwing her own punches at Hannah. With each punch, Hannah tasted more and more blood filling up her mouth, felt it dripping down her cheek and staining her hands. Blood mixed with cherry lip gloss was a strange flavour indeed. Each slap of flesh and crack of bone echoed around the room as they threw each other around, both over and through the furniture. Hannah let out a cry of pain as Stormfront aimed a flash of purple lightning at her, sending her flying across the room and into a book case. The loud crash and splintering wood was sure to have alerted others in the area. Hannah coughed as she tried to push herself up, groaning as Stormfront pinned her to the ground, hands wrapping tightly around her throat. The blonde choked, eyes going wide as she stared at the smiling woman about her. 

“That’s it…look right here. I like to see the life slip away.” Stormfront grinned maliciously down at Hannah who was trying everything to get free; kicking, squirming, clawing at her hands, but all to no avail. Hannah was running out of time. As her gaze fell, she clocked the pouch on her thigh. Immediately, she reached into the small leather pouch and pulled out one of the glowing green syringes of Compound X Frenchie had given her earlier and without hesitation, stuck it into Stormfront’s neck, pushing down on the plunger. Stormfront grunted as the needle pierced into her skin and rolled off Hannah, leaving the blonde to cough and desperately gasp for air. She held a hand to her throat in an attempt to sooth the burning flesh. Stormfront turned back to her, fury all over her face. 

“No more games. This ends now!” She growled, raising a hand to shock Hannah again. But there was nothing. No lightning. Not even a spark or a flash. Stormfront looked confused and terrified. 

“What the fuck did you do to me?!” She cried out, lunging at Hannah who immediately blocked her blow, spinning her around to lock her arm in place. Stormfront whimpered in pain. 

“I took away your powers.” Hannah replied, reaching up with her switchblade to slit Stormfront’s throat. Her hand immediately shot to her throat, applying pressure in a pathetic attempt to stop the bleeding. As she fell to her knees, choking and wheezing, Stormfront looked up at Hannah, surprise and terror in her eyes. A few moments later, she dropped to the floor, all the colour draining from her and a pool of blood pouring from the wound and pooling around her like a macabre halo. Hannah dropped the switchblade, her eyes wide, unable to look away from the body on the floor. No, she couldn't do this now. She would feel guilty later. Right now, she needed to get the fuck out of there. Hannah quickly cleaned her hands and face of blood, doing the same to her switchblade before checking that all her injuries had healed and ran out the room, locking it behind her. She looked as calm as possible as she made her way out of Vought Tower, avoiding everyone as she did. She had to get to the hideout, had to get to safety. It wouldn’t be long before someone found Stormfront dead and Hannah missing. They’d put two and two together and figure it out. 

When she was far enough away, Hannah ran down an alleyway and pulled the switchblade back out of her pocket, taking a few deep breaths before bringing it to her own neck, cutting out the Vought tracking chip and destroying it before running the rest of the way back to the pawn shop. To say the others were shocked to see her way an understatement. They all gathered around her as she ran down the stairs and over to Billy who immediately wrapped his arms around her. 

“Hannah? What the fuck’s happened, luv?” He asked, concern written all over his face. 

“I had it…I had everything we needed to take down Stormfront…” Hannah replied breathlessly, clinging to Billy as tears filled her eyes. 

“What? What happened?” Billy’s eyes grew wide with worry. 

“She attacked me…she had her hands around my throat, she was going to kill me…I had no choice…” Hannah was struggling to hold back the tears as she recounted what had just happened. 

“I injected her with Frenchie’s Compound X…and I slit her throat…she’s dead, Billy…” Hannah let herself break down after that. She dropped to her knees and began to cry loudly. Billy dropped down beside her and held her in his arms, gently stroking her back. 

“Shh, it’s alright, luv…it’s over now…” He said softly, cradling her head to his chest. After a moment, Billy looked up at the others. They all looked worried. 

“Right, it won’t be long before Vought find out what happened there, which means it won’t be long before they come after us. We gotta get Hannah outta ‘ere, she ain’t safe anymore – especially if Homelander finds out.” 

“If they find out Hannah’s been playing them all along, it won’t be long before they work out Annie helped too. We should hide you too.” Hughie replied, giving Annie a worried look. Annie could have protested, but she knew that she had no choice. 

“I agree, neither of us are safe here.” Annie nodded in agreement. 

“Right, grab anything ya need and get t’ the car.” Billy ordered before pressing a soft kiss to Hannah’s head. 

“It’s gonna be alright, luv. We’re gonna get you and Starlight somewhere safe.” 

It wasn’t long before news of Stormfront’s murder was all over the news along with the story of Goddess’s betrayal alongside Starlight. Homelander had given an interview, saying that the traitors would be found and punished for their crimes. Hannah could tell as she was watching that he was beyond furious. He was trying to hold himself together for public appearances, shed a tear for his fallen love and sobbed a little for the cameras, but beneath it all, he was boiling over with rage. 

“You ready to go?” Hughie asked from the staircase. Annie soon joined him with her bag, giving Hannah a small, reassuring smile. Hannah nodded and climbed off the sofa, grabbing her bag and heading up the stairs with Hughie and Annie. Billy was already in the car, engine running and ready to go. Hannah and Annie placed their bags in the trunk and climbed into the back whilst Hughie settled in the front besides Billy. The journey out of the city was quiet and thick with tension. Everyone was too on edge to talk. There was too much at stake now. Annie and Hannah had hidden under a blanket until they got far enough out of the city and onto the back roads, desperate to remain undetected. All four relaxed a little once they were far enough away. Billy wouldn’t tell them where they were going, he just kept assuring them it was somewhere safe. A few more miles out and Annie had fallen asleep, head resting on Hannah’s shoulder. Hughie had also fallen asleep; head resting against the passenger side window. Hannah was holding Annie’s hand, giving it a gentle squeeze every so often to let her know they were still safe. Billy could only imagine how terrified both of the girls must have been; he kept checking his rear-view mirror every so often to check on them. 

“You both alright back there?” Billy asked. Hannah looked up and nodded softly, trying her hardest not to disturb Annie. 

“As alright as we can be.” She gave Billy a small, reassuring smile. 

“I’m not gonna let the cunt hurt ya, either of ya.” Billy turned and offered her a small smile. “We won’t be much longer now, you’ll be-” 

Billy was cut short when the car suddenly collided with something. None of them saw what it was, but it felt as if they’d crashed into a tree or a building. The car was launched into the air, flipping upside down before landing on the roof. All four of them were thrown around the car, crying out in pain as glass shattered and metal bent around them. Alarms went off and lights flashed as Hannah clawed her way out of the car, the familiar metallic tang of blood filling her mouth as she coughed and spluttered. Everything hurt and she was sure she’d cracked a rib. There was ringing in her head and everything was fuzzy. There was a loud ringing in her head that she fought away as she looked around. Nobody else was out the car. Carefully, she crawled back in and called out for Annie, grabbing her hand and pulling her from the wreckage. Annie gasped and whimpered in pain, wiping the blood from her lip before crawling around to the passenger side to pull Hughie out. He had a nasty cut on his head, but he was still breathing. As Annie lay him by the side of the road, Hughie slowly regained consciousness, grunting and groaning in pain. His hand shot to his chest. He must have broken a couple of ribs, but besides that nothing else seemed to be broken. Hannah got to her feet and stumbled around to the driver’s side to pull out Billy, her heart skipping a beat when she found he wasn’t there. 

“Billy? Annie, Hughie, where’s Billy?” Hannah let out a cry of pain, gripping the car for support. When she didn’t get an answer, she immediately panicked. She pushed herself up just in time to see both Annie and Hughie get thrown through the air, hitting the ground with a hard thud. Both of them seemed to be unconscious. As Hannah looked back, she saw Homelander. He was levitating across the street, eyes glowing bright red as he glared at her. 

“You fucking evil bitch!” He spat at her, his voice dripping with malice. Hannah took a few tentative steps backwards as he moved closer to her. She stumbled and tripped over, gasping out in pain as she hit the hard asphalt. Homelander’s hand was soon around her throat, lifting her up into the air. Hannah gasped, choked and wheezed, hands clawing at his wrists. Before she could fade out from lack of oxygen, she was thrown onto the overturned car. As she struggled to get her breath back, Homelander loomed over her, a malicious smirk on his face. 

“I knew I should have killed you when I had the chance.” Hannah let out a loud, chilling scream as Homelander reached down and snapped her right leg as if it were nothing more than a twig. He repeated the act on her left leg, grinning as she slid off the vehicle and to the floor. Homelander turned from her and vanished from her sight for a moment. When she looked up, her eyes grew wide with terror. Homelander had Billy, his arm wrapped tightly around his neck. Billy was struggling, attempting to break free to little avail. 

“You took the one I love from me. I want you to feel exactly the way I feel and I want your true love to feel exactly what mine did." He growled before pulling Billy’s head back, dragging a knife across his throat, just as she had done to Stormfront. As Hannah screamed out, Homelander dropped Billy to the ground as if he were nothing but garbage and flew off out of sight. Eyes heavy with tears, Hannah dragged herself across the street and over to Billy, desperately calling out to him. 

“No! No, Billy!” She cried out as she reached him. His eyes were wide with fear, one hand applying pressure to the wound. Hazel eyes darted over to Hannah as she pulled him into her lap. 

“Don’t talk, don’t talk!” Hannah sobbed, leaning down to press a soft kiss to his lips. “Please hold on, please, I’m gonna get help!” Hannah stuttered before screaming out to Hughie, to Annie, to anyone who could hear her. She covered over the pouring wound in Billy’s neck, her hands quickly becoming soaked with blood. Billy coughed and spluttered; blood now spattered over his face. 

“Please don’t leave me…please don’t go…” Hannah whimpered.


	5. Holding Out For A Hero

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry it has taken me so long to get this chapter up! I've redrafted it so many times, I just wanted it to be perfect! 
> 
> Thank you all so much for the wonderful feedback, I've been in absolute awe of the response I've gotten from this. This was only meant to be a one shot story and it's turned into one of my most favourite things I've ever written and it's all thanks to you guys!

_Beep._

_Beep._

_Beep._

The continuous, steady sound from the heart monitor had managed to put Hannah into a somewhat calm trance over the long hours she had been sat in the armchair besides Billy, knees pulled up to her chest. Seeing him with all those wires and tubes sticking out of him continued to stab guilt into her heart every time she blinked. Hannah hadn’t taken her eyes off him since the doctors allowed her into the room. She hadn’t slept. She hadn’t eaten. She’d had the occasional glass of water of cup of coffee when one of the nurses came to check on him or changes the bandages around his neck, but beyond that, Hannah had barely moved a muscle. She wanted – no, needed – to stay; needed to be here when he woke up, needed to keep watch over him in case anything happened and needed to make sure he was safe. 

She wasn’t sure exactly how long it had been since they had brought Billy to the hospital; could have been hours, but more likely it had been days. It had all become a blur. When he was rushed into the operating room, Hannah had locked herself in the bathroom and had tried to wash the blood from her hands. She scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed until her hands were red raw. She had screamed, cried and smashed the mirror before collapsing in a heap on the floor. Annie had come to her aid, pulled her into her arms and held her whilst she cried. She had tried to calm her down, told her that he would be alright, but Hannah refused to believe it until she heard it from the doctors. 

_“He’s lost a lot of blood, Miss. Kaufman; but fortunately, when Mr. Butcher’s throat was cut, his head was pulled back. So instead of cutting the carotid artery, the only real damage was done to his jugular vein.”_ The doctor went on to explain that damage to the jugular does not present immediate threat in terms of blood pressure loss, so they had more time to get the wound to clot and that by pulling his head back, the assailant (Homelander) had actually forced the muscles in Billy’s neck forward and the carotid artery back. In his attempt to replicate the suffering of Stormfront on Billy, Homelander had fucked up and ended up protecting the very thing he was trying to cut. He should have stuck to brute strength and laser eyes. 

_“Can I see him?”_ Hannah had asked hopefully. 

_“You can, but I’m afraid you won’t get any response from him. Not only is he heavily sedated, but there was extensive damage to his trachea, I’m afraid Mr. Butcher won’t be speaking for some time.”_ Hannah had followed the doctor to the room where they were keeping Billy and the sight before her made her heart sink. Billy was lying in the hospital bed, eyes closed. If the monitors were not displaying his active vitals, it would have been easy to assume he was dead. His savaged neck was bandaged and there were IV drips hooked into his arms and tubes attached to his nose. Hannah slowly crossed the room and stepped over to Billy, her eyes brimming with tears as she carefully took his hand into her own. 

_“Hey, Billy…”_ Hannah took a moment, sniffling and gazing down at him. 

_“I’m so sorry…this is all my fault…”_ …” Hannah stifled back her sobs, tipping her head back to force back the tears. 

_“He’s going to pay for this…I promise you; I will make him pay…”_

* * *

Hannah had practically been in a catatonic state until the nurse came into the room to check on Billy’s vitals. She gave Hannah a soft smile and quickly carried out her checks. This had become a regular part of her day. A nurse would come in a few times a day to check up on Billy – and subsequently to check on Hannah. Sometimes it was the same nurse, sometimes a different one. Honestly, Hannah couldn’t tell them apart at this point. They had all morphed into one. That was how little attention she was paying to them. They came and went so quickly that it was hard to care or notice. 

“You know, Miss. Kaufman, you really don’t need to stay here. We can call you if there’s any change in Mr. Butcher’s condition. You should go home, have a shower, get some sleep…look after yourself.” The nurse’s voice was soft and kind as she offered Hannah a sympathetic smile. She looked up at her with heavy, bloodshot eyes; the first time she had really looked at one of the nurses. She was young, pretty green eyes and curly red hair. Hannah shook her head and looked back at Billy. 

“I don’t want to leave him.” She replied, her voice was weak and monotone from lack of use. The nurse gave her a sympathetic smile and nodded softly before leaving the room. A few moments later, the door opened again. 

“I already told you, I don’t want to leave him.” Hannah repeated, still in refusal to take her eyes away from Billy. 

“How is he?” A familiar voice asked. Hannah turned her head to the doorway and watched as Mallory closed it behind her. If she was shocked or surprised to see Mallory, she didn’t give it away. Her face was still as blank as it had been since she first arrived at the hospital. Her gaze was once again drawn back to Billy, ever his watchful guardian. 

“He lost a lot of blood…damage to his jugular vein and trachea…they’re keeping him sedated and monitoring him…it’s for the best…if he was awake, he’d just want out of here…he’s stubborn like that.” Hannah replied insipidly, reaching out to take his hand in hers. He felt cold. Mallory frowned a little and moved to stand at the foot of the bed, watching Billy for a moment. Nobody had seen Billy Butcher this vulnerable before. It was a shock to everyone who saw him, apparently that included his former boss. 

“Why are you here, Mallory?” Hannah asked, her voice colder than usual. 

“I wanted to check on Butcher.” Hannah scoffed out a chuckle at that. 

“Could have been done through a phone call.” 

“It required a personal touch. Besides, after I pulled a few strings and got the hospital to overlook the fact that you’re both wanted felons, I figured getting to see him was the last I could get as thanks.” Mallory replied. Hannah slowly turned her head to look at her, messy blonde locks tumbling over her shoulder. 

“I appreciate everything you’ve done for us so far, Mallory, I really do. But in case you haven’t noticed, I’m still America’s Most Wanted, the others have been forced further underground and the man I love is currently lying in a hospital bed fighting for his fucking life – so excuse me if I’m not my usual perky self.” Her voice dripped like venom as she spoke. 

“I understand that you’re upset, Hannah, but Butcher had been through-” Hannah shot out the seat and cut Mallory off. 

“Don’t you fucking dare tell me he’s been through worse! You weren’t there, Mallory! You weren’t the one holding your hands over his throat to try and stop him bleeding out or the one who had to hold his hand, lie to him and promise him everything was going to be alright. He was terrified, Mallory. I’ve never seen Billy look so scared before. I can still see the look on his face when he was lying there, I can feel his blood on my hands…warm and wet…it won’t go away…it won’t fucking go away!” Hannah covered her face with her hands, turned away from Mallory and took a moment to compose herself. The sudden outburst of emotion was the most she had shown in the entire time she had been in the room with Billy. She sucked in a few deep breaths and ran her hands through her hair. 

“I know you’ve been through a lot lately, Hannah. This was really the last thing you or any of us needed; and I get that you want to stay here and watch over him, but I really think it’s in your best interest to find the others and regroup.” Mallory replied calmly, reaching out to rest a hand on Hannah’s shoulder. Hannah wanted to protest again; scream, shout and refuse to leave Billy’s side. But as she looked at him, tears filling her eyes, she knew what she had to do.

* * *

Mallory had her driven Hannah back to the hideout beneath the pawn shop where she was met with concern and relief from her friends. Kimiko was the first to meet her as she descended the staircase. She practically ran over to Hannah and locked her in a tight embrace. Hannah wrapped her arms around Kimiko and signed that she was ok. Kimiko had smiled and given her hand a squeeze. MM and Frenchie were next; both men leaving everything they were doing to check on her and make sure she was alright. Then Annie and Hughie came to check on her. Everyone was asking about Billy, but Hannah told them there was nothing to report – he was still in an induced coma and being monitored closely by the doctors. Not wanted them fussing over her, Hannah had told everyone that she just wanted a shower. After locking herself in the bathroom, Hannah had stripped out of her week-old clothes and stepped under the water, almost hot enough to scald her. It felt good to get the scent of the overly clean hospital out of her skin and out of her hair – not to mention the dirt and sweat that had accumulated over the days she spent sitting in the same chair. She had forgotten how easy it was to neglect yourself when you’re worrying about someone else. After scrubbing herself clean and washing her hair, Hannah had sunk to sit in the bathtub, knees pulled up to her chest and eyes closed as she just let the water hit her. For a brief moment, everything within her was at peace; she forgot about Billy, Homelander and everything for just a split second before a knock on the door roughly forced her back to reality. 

“Han? You ok in there?” MM’s voice asked. Hannah immediately stood up and turned off the water before grabbing her towel. 

“Yeah, I’m all good!” Hannah called back. She knew exactly why he was checking up on her given what happened the last time she locked herself in the bathroom for a long period of time. Hannah sighed deeply and wrapped her towel around herself before carefully stepping out of the bathtub. She wiped the steam off the mirror and frowned as she looked at her reflection. She looked so tired; heavy, dark circles under her eyes and fine lines etched lightly over her face seemed to age her. She flipped her hair forward and quickly ruffled the wet locks with her towel until they were messy and just damp. Hannah left the bathroom, smirking a little as Hughie, MM and Frenchie averted their gazes as she walked over to her area of the hideout where her makeshift bedroom was set up. She quickly changed into a clean pair of shorts and an old, oversized Nirvana t-shirt before joining Frenchie in the kitchen. After negotiating with him, she managed to convince him to give her some Temazepam to help her sleep. 

“Please, Frenchie, I’m desperate. I haven’t slept for a week.” Hannah said softly. 

“You know I cannot do that, Han! After last time, what would Butcher say, huh?” He replied. 

“Frenchie, I’m begging you. I just need something to help me fall asleep. Just this once. Please?” Hannah pleaded. Frenchie sighed deeply and ran a hand over his face before holding his hands up in defeat. 

“Fine, fine. Twenty milligrams of Temazepam. That’s it.” Frenchie replied before taking her over to his area of the basement. He fumbled through his boxes until he found the box he was looking for. He popped a pill out of the blister pack and handed it to Hannah. She immediately took it and thanked him before heading into her room. Hannah crawled under the duvet and rest her head on the pillow. Perhaps Frenchie’s Temazepam was a higher dosage than he thought, or perhaps it was the comfiness of the bed, or perhaps the fact that she had literally not slept in a week, but Hannah almost immediately fell into a deep sleep. Hannah couldn’t remember the last time she’d slept that heavily or that well. When she woke up, Annie was sitting by the side of her bed, holding a mug of tea and reading a book. Hannah groaned a little and shuffled upright, resting her head on the wall behind her. Annie put her book down and smiled at her and handed her a mug of tea from the small bedside table. 

“Thank you.” Hannah took the mug from her and took a long drink, smiling and closing her eyes for a moment as she savoured the taste. PG Tips, the good stuff Billy always ordered from England. She had hated to admit it to him, but it tasted so much better than the stuff over in the States. 

“How did you sleep?” Annie asked softly. 

“Like a baby – well, a baby full of sleeping pills. Don’t worry, I only had one. I just needed something to help me drift off and not feel guilty for a little while.” Hannah pulled her knees up to her chest and sighed softly. Annie gave her a small frown. 

“You shouldn’t be feeling guilty, Hannah. None of this is your fault.” Annie placed her book on the bedside table and pulled the chair closer to Hannah’s bed. Hannah shook her head and gave her a sad smile. 

“How can you say that, Annie? Literally all of this is my fault. I was the one who wanted to infiltrate Vought. I was the one who killed Stormfront. I’m the reason Billy is lying in that hospital bed with his throat cut.” She replied. 

“No, no you can’t put that on yourself. You did infiltrate Vought and you got plenty of information. What happened with Stormfront, you acted in self-defence. She was going to kill you. As for Billy, none of us could’ve predicted Homelander finding us and doing what he did. This isn’t your fault at all.” Annie replied confidently, reaching out to rest her hand on Hannah’s knee. She gave her a smile and took a drink from her mug. 

“I’m going to find a way to make this right, Annie. I swear.” 

After a little while longer, Annie and Hannah both headed into the lounge. Annie joined Hughie on the sofa and Annie headed into the kitchen where her phone had been charging. She pushed herself up onto the countertop and started flicking through social media, trying her hardest to ignore all the news articles and posts about Goddess being public enemy number one. She smiled as she watched Kimiko and Frenchie at the kitchen table. She was attempting to teach him her sign language and he was trying so hard to learn it. MM was adding a layer of paint to the doll’s house he had built for Janine; clearly trying to personalise it for his daughter. It was nice to be back with her friends. All that was missing was Billy Butcher and his foul mouth. 

_Ding-ding! Ding-ding!_

Hannah’s phone chimed in her hands and a message alert appeared at the top of the screen. Unknown number. She quirked a brow and clicked on it. 

_I want to help. Meet me at the park under the bridge. 1 hour. Come alone._

Her mouth fell open slightly as she read the message, unsure if it was a hoax or not. This could have been a trap orchestrated by Vought or Homelander. But how had they gotten this number? The only ones who had this were her friends and Mallory. MM looked over at Hannah, concern suddenly all over his face. 

“Han? Everything ok?” He asked. All eyes were suddenly on Hannah. The blonde looked up and shook her head. 

“I just got a message…someone saying they want to help.” She replied. MM headed over to her and took her phone, examining the message, trying to find any information on the sender. The number was withheld and there was no indication as to who sent it. 

“Nah, I don’t trust it. Probably Vought trying to draw you out.” He replied, handing Hannah her phone back. 

“That’s what I thought. But if it was Vought – or even Homelander – why would they tell me to come alone? Wouldn’t they want Annie and all of you too?” She asked. 

“They could be trying to trick you. Get you out in the open, follow you back here and then boom! They have all of us!” Frenchie replied. Kimiko nodded in agreement; her eyes wide with worry. 

“But what if it really is someone who wants to help? In case you all haven’t noticed, we’re in a very fucking compromised state. We need all the help we can get right now.” Hannah folded her arms across her chest. She had them there. 

“Ok, yeah, we do need help. But in case you haven’t noticed, Han, your face is plastered all over this city. You’re on every news station, every billboard. You’re a wanted woman. How are you gonna get through the city unrecognised?” MM asked. 

“I’ve done it before. I can do it again.”

* * *

The others hadn’t been happy about it at all. They had all protested and argued, but Hannah insisted on going. She assured them that she could handle it if things went wrong and had agreed to let MM come with her as backup. Hannah had changed into a pair of black skinny jeans, boots and a Don Broco t-shirt before hiding her blonde locks under a short, jade green wig. After sliding on a pair of black sunglasses, the two of them left and drove to the park. MM had given Hannah an ear piece and a microphone so they could stay in touch as she waited under the bridge. She stood there, lit cigarette hanging between her fingers, watching as people, ran, walked and jogged past her for what seemed like hours. She checked the time on her phone. Whoever sent her the message was running late. Taking a long drag on her cigarette, Hannah sighed and leaned against the brick wall behind her. 

“Give it five more minutes. If nobody shows, we get out of here. Deal?” MM asked through the ear piece. 

“Deal.” Hannah replied, blowing out a puff of smoke. Time continued to tick on and Hannah was about to give up hope when she heard a familiar voice heading towards her. 

“You really don’t do inconspicuous as well as you think you do.” Maeve said with a smirk as she headed over to Hannah. It through Hannah; she was so used to seeing Maeve is her usual warrior princess outfit. Seeing her dressed in jeans and a grey hoodie was just unusual. 

“Maeve? Vought sending you to do their dirty work now?” Hannah took a final drag on her cigarette and stubbed it out with the heel of her boot before pushing herself off the wall. 

“If I was, do you really think I’d come dressed like this?” She replied, sarcastic as ever. 

“I meant what I said in the message. I wanna help.” Hannah pulled another cigarette out of her pocket and lit it up before offering one to Maeve. She pulled one out of the packet and leaned forward as Hannah lit it for her. They both took a long drag before Hannah replied. 

“Why? What could you possibly gain from helping us?” Maeve took another drag on her cigarette and sighed a little before pulling a small GoPro camera from the backpack she had with her. She turned it on and checked nobody else was around before showing it to Hannah. The footage showed Queen Maeve and Homelander on the flight that went down. Homelander was threatening the passengers and refusing to save anyone. Maeve was pleading with him to at least save the life of a young girl, but he still refused. The camera turned to the passenger filming who recounted the events before making an emotional farewell to his family. Maeve turned off the camera and put it back into her bag. 

“You get the idea.” She blew out a puff of smoke before continuing. 

“I can’t take it anymore. The guilt…it’s too much. He needs putting back into place.” Maeve finished. Hannah took a deep breath and tapped the ash off the end of her cigarette. 

“You know how much you’re risking by doing this, right?” Maeve scoffed and rolled her eyes at that. 

“I’m not a fucking idiot. Of course, I do. The question is: do you want my help or not?”

* * *

Maeve sighed deeply and pulled down her hood, shaking her hair free as she headed back into Vought Tower. She ignored everyone as she headed to the elevator and back up to the penthouse floor. Nothing out of the ordinary there; Maeve always made the effort to avoid people around the Tower. Nothing but kiss-asses trying their hardest to get her to do all kinds of useless shit that she had no interest in. Today was no different. Employees immediately flocked her, trying to set her up with interviews, filming schedules, wardrobe, hair and fuck knows what else. She merely flipped them off and told them all to take it up with Ashley. 

Once safely locked away in her private room, Maeve groaned and started to pull off her hoodie as she headed into her bedroom. 

“Been anywhere nice?” Maeve stopped dead in her tracks as she heard Homelander’s voice. She finished pulling off her hoodie and threw it onto her bed before rolling her eyes. He was stood with his back to her, hands clasped behind him as he looked out the window. 

“How many times have I told you to stay the fuck out of my room?” She replied with her usual level of irritation. Homelander let out a small chuckle and turned to her with that arrogant little smile that made Maeve want to punch him until his face was caved in. 

“Did you find her?” He asked, his voice and expression suddenly all serious. Maeve sighed softly and placed her hands on her hips, nodding softly. Homelander grinned and clapped his hands together. 

“That’s my girl! I knew I could count on you!” He headed across the room and pressed a soft kiss to her head. Maeve could practically feel her skin crawl as he did. Homelander placed his hands on her shoulders and glared down at her. 

“Where is she?” Maeve looked at the ground, biting her lip for a moment before looking up at him. 

“I don’t know exactly-” Homelander groaned and turned away from her, rubbing his temple for a moment. 

“Jesus fucking Christ, Maeve, I give you one job – one simple fucking job – and you can’t even do that right!” Homelander snapped. 

“I don’t know because she didn’t tell me! She gave me the fucking directions and told me to find a cabin there.” Maeve spat back. 

“She’ll be there tonight along with the others. If we wait until then, we can take all of them out once and for all.”

* * *

Homelander hadn’t expected the boy’s new hideout to be so far out. He guessed it made sense; where better to hide than an abandoned cabin in the middle of a forest? He had been waiting for this moment for weeks now. He’d decided that he had let Hannah suffer the loss of her darling Billy Butcher for long enough now. Now he was going to enjoy tormenting her further. He had planned it all out: kill all of her friends slowly and painfully whilst he forced her to watch. Then, he would have fun torturing her. Homelander remembered how small and terrified she had been when he had her at her childhood home; the mere thought had been enough to make his cock twitch and throb. He was going to hurt her until she begged and pleaded for death and he was going to enjoy every single fucking second. He’d revel in every single scream and every sob she made. It was a real shame knowing what he was going to have to do to Hannah – pretty little thing like her. She had everything she could have possibly wanted and she threw it all away for the love of a pathetic, foul-mouthed Brit. What a waste. 

“Here.” Maeve pointed down at a small clearing in the thick woodland. Homelander immediately swooped down and let Maeve catch her breath for a moment. He could have asked how she was, but what was the point in pretending to care? Homelander examined the area for a moment, making sure for definite that there were not any traps or surveillance equipment set up anywhere to alert them they were here. Nothing. Just a single car parked outside the small wooden cabin. It looked like something straight out of a cliché horror movie. How fucking original. But also, how perfect. They were so far away from any other signs of life that there would be nobody around to hear the massacre that was about to happen. Homelander turned and looked at Maeve with a raised brow. 

“What are you waiting for? She’s expecting you. Go knock.” He demanded, gesturing towards the door. Maeve glared at him and stuck up her middle finger at him before heading over to the cabin. She climbed the couple of stairs onto the porch and knocked a couple of times. 

“Hannah? It’s me, it’s Maeve.” She fell silent, waiting for a response. 

“It’s open! Come in!” Hannah’s voice called from inside. Maeve swallowed the lump in her throat and opened the door slowly before heading inside, shortly followed by Homelander. She closed the door behind her, clicking the lock shut before turning into the room. It was pitch black besides the small lamp in the corner of the room offering a hint of light. Homelander could just about make out his surroundings: the room opened straight into the lounge of the cabin, the staircase just to the right. Ahead, an entrance way lead into what he could only assume was the kitchen and the dining area. The lounge was nothing special; rustic in its charm. Various photographs and landscapes dotted the walls, breaking up the plain wooden surfaces. The dust and cobwebs collecting on everything suggested that nobody had been there for some time. Across the room, Hannah had been sitting in a small arm chair besides the fire place, a lit cigarette resting between her fingers; the smoke billowing around her. She was staring blankly at Homelander and Maeve the whole time. Homelander chuckled as he eyed the blonde. 

“Well, isn’t this cosy?” He looked around the room and smirked. 

“Really love what you’ve done with the place.” Homelander started to slowly pace around the room, examining the dusty photographs and ornaments which adorned the space. On closer inspection, he recognised the people in the photograph: Hannah, her mother and her father. This must have been the family cabin. Hannah brought the cigarette to her lips and inhaled slowly before blowing out a puff of smoke. She remained silent, merely following Homelander’s movements. 

“Where are your little friends? Hiding around the place, getting ready to spring a surprise attack?” He asked, the little grin fading from his face as Hannah remained quiet. 

“The silent treatment? Really? After everything I’ve done to you, no more clever quips or brazen remarks to make? You’re just gonna sit there and inhale nicotine?” He turned to Maeve and chuckled, gesturing over to Hannah. 

“Can you fucking believe this?” Maeve didn’t respond. She just kept her eyes fixed on him. Homelander quirked a brow and exchanged glances between the two women. 

“What the fuck is going on here?” He asked. Hannah sat forward in her seat, exhaling for the final time before stubbing out her cigarette on the table beside her. 

“Here’s what’s going to happen, John: you’re gonna turn around and fly back home. You’re gonna leave Maeve and Elena alone; let them live their lives in peace. You’re gonna tell the truth about Stormfront, clear my name and Annie’s name, and then you’re gonna stop hunting us all. You’re gonna leave us all the fuck alone.” Hannah sat back in her seat, the expression on her face deadly serious. Homelander looked between the two women again and started laughing. 

“You’re fucking kidding me, right? Why the fuck would I ever do that?” Hannah stood up from her seat and took a couple of steps towards him. 

“Because if you don’t, I am going to destroy you and everything you hold dear.” Hannah looked up at him and smirked. Homelander looked down at her with malice and returned the smirk. He leaned forward and brushed her hair behind her ear.

“Not on your life, princess.” He whispered against her ear before reaching down to grab her by the throat. He lifted Hannah up, his grip tightening as he glared maliciously at her. He was suddenly thrown across the room by a bright flash of light, forcing Hannah to fall to the ground. She coughed a little and rubbed her neck before looking up as Annie entered the room from the kitchen. Homelander had hit the wall with such an impact that a couple of the photo frames hanging on the wall behind him had fallen and shattered beside him. He rubbed his head and looked up both women, a small chuckle leaving him as he got back to his feet. 

“I was wondering when you were gonna show your face.” Homelander remarked. Annie ignored his comment and instead reached down to help Hannah back to her feet, quickly checking she was alright before they both turned back to Homelander. 

“You two have been thorns in my side for far too fucking long now.” His voice was deep, close to a growl as his eyes glowed red. Two bright red lights suddenly shot from his eyes and Annie and Hannah barely managed to avoid them. Wood splintered, objects shattered and furniture broke apart as they came in contact with Homelander’s lasers, the sound of snapping, cracking and creaking filled the air along with Annie and Hannah’s gasps and grunts as they dodged his attack. Homelander eventually grew frustrated that they were able to continuously avoid the lasers and blinked, forcing the blinding red lights to vanish before he launched himself at Hannah and Annie. The three were locked in combat, Annie and Hannah exchanging blows with Homelander in a desperate attempt to subdue him but it was no good. Even with the odds against him, Homelander was much stronger than both of them. Even Maeve’s efforts didn’t seem to help. Three against one still didn’t seem to phase Homelander at all. He threw Maeve across the room, the room seeming to shake as she hit the wall with such force it cracked behind her. She fell to the floor with a groan and double over in pain. 

“Stay the fuck down!” Homelander demanded, pointing a finger in Maeve’s direction before turning back to Annie and Hannah. Both of them immediately attacked again; Hannah attempted to use her powers on him but he was one step ahead. Homelander knew her game by now and the second he saw the pink light flood her eyes, he landed a harsh punch to her face, sending her to the ground. Hannah’s vision went blurry and she blinked rapidly. She could taste the familiar twang of copper filling her mouth and reached up to wipe the blood away. Her vision came back in time to see Homelander launch Annie across the room as if she were nothing more than a rag doll. Frightened blue eyes shot up to Homelander as he reached down and grabbed a handful of Hannah’s blonde hair. She grabbed his wrist, whimpering and seething in pain as he pulled her up and off her feet. 

“You know, I had everything planned out perfectly: kill all your friends, torture you then kill you. But now that I have you here, I don’t see any point in waiting.” Homelander gave her a wicked smile, his eyes glowing red. It sounded cliché, but Hannah was positive she saw her life flash before her eyes in that moment. She let her eyes close, silently accepting her fate. That was when she fell to the ground with a heavy thud. Homelander was grunting and groaning, attempting to throw Kimiko off his back. She had her legs locked tightly around his torso; one hand tangled in his hair. Hannah was impressed at how well she was able to hang onto him. Kimiko reached into her pocket and pulled out a syringe filled with Frenchie’s modified Compound X. After a few moments of struggling with Homelander, she managed to stick the needle into his neck and push down on the plunger just before he managed to throw her off. Homelander groaned and cursed under his breath, reaching up to pull the needle from his neck. He threw it across the room, letting it smash on the ground before turning to Kimiko who was pulling herself up from the ground. 

“You fucking sneaky bitch!” He growled, glaring hard at her. Homelander stopped in his tracks. Where were the lasers? Why was nothing happening? He began to reach out to grab Kimiko by the throat. 

“What the fuck did you do?!” He screamed at her. Annie pulled him back before he caught her and smirked at him. 

“We took away your powers.” She smirked at him before landing a harsh punch to his face. Homelander’s hand shot to his jaw for a moment before he attempted to throw a punch to Annie. She blocked him and kicked him in the gut, forcing him to double over in pain. Hannah then took her chance to land a few hits. 

“This is for Annie!” A punch to his face. 

“This is for Maeve!” A kick to his gut. 

“This is for me, for Becca and for everyone you ever hurt!” Another hit to his face. 

“And this one is for Billy Butcher!” With that, Hannah landed a hard kick to the back of this head, sending him to his knees. Kimiko took her opportunity to jump on his back again, her legs wrapped tightly around his midsection and her arms around his neck, effectively locking him in a sleeper hold. Gradually, Homelander grew weaker and weaker, dropping to his knees and eventually flat on the ground. This feeling of pain, weakness and vulnerability was something he had never experienced before. It was new, it was strange and it was fucking horrible. Hannah and Maeve joined Annie and Kimiko, who had managed to cable tie Homelander’s hands behind his back. Kimiko was still sitting on his thighs in order to keep him pinned down. With a grunt, Homelander looked up and exchanged glances with the four women. With a smirk, Maeve and Hannah knelt in front of him.

“You’re not gonna get away with this…” He growled up at them between heavy breaths. 

“Oh, yes we are. You see, Maeve has something I think you’d love to see.” Hannah looked across at Maeve and nodded. The redhead pulled out her phone and set up the video player before showing him the footage of the plane crash. Homelander gulped and looked between them again. He wanted so badly to call their bluff; say they didn’t have the guts to leak the footage. But if they did, he was fucked. Everything he had would vanish. He’d be cast out of his personal Eden in the worst way possible. He sighed deeply and looked away. 

“Fine. Fine, you win…”

* * *

Hannah once again found herself sitting besides Billy in the hospital room. The machines were still beeping steadily and he was still unconscious. She had been sat there for about six hours, watching over Billy with a small smile. After everything that had happened the night before, the only thing she wanted to do was come back to the hospital and be with Billy. There hadn’t been any update from the doctors on his condition, but it wasn’t as if she had anything better to do. She had been there for a couple of hours when Mallory had shown up. She had informed Hannah that they had all been pardoned and cleared of all charges by the government and all of them were no longer wanted. She told her that MM had been reunited with Janine and Monique, that Frenchie and Kimiko were off travelling and that Hughie had started working for Congresswoman Neuman. They had been watching another rerun of The Jerry Springer Show when a breaking news report flashed up. Stan Edgar stood behind a lectern, Homelander, Queen Maeve and Starlight beside him. All four looked solemn and serious. Hannah couldn’t help but smile as she looked at Annie in her old, slightly more conservative uniform; no makeup or hair extensions. The cameras were flashing and journalists were shouting questions before Edgar began to speak. 

“We now believe that Stormfront was the sole perpetrator of the attack on Washington. In the light of Stormfront’s atrocities, the release of Compound V to the public has been placed on indefinite hold. Homelander?” Edgar stepped aside and let Homelander take to the podium. Hannah sat forward in her seat; eyes fixed on the screen. The cameras continued to flash and the reporters shouted more questions. 

“Thanks to the heroism of Queen Maeve, Starlight and Goddess, Stormfront is no longer a threat to public safety or national security. I would personally like to apologise to both Starlight and to Goddess, who could not be with us today due to personal reasons. Both were wrongly accused of sabotage and conspiracy, as well as murder and treason against the Seven and the United States. Starlight, welcome back to the team. Goddess, if you’re watching out there, you have my deepest, sincerest apologies and I want you to know that there will always be a place for you in The Seven. I know now that you three incredible women are some of the best and most loyal friends I could ever have.” Homelander paused for a moment, giving Starlight a small smile anyone who didn’t know him would have easily mistaken as sincere. He turned back to the audience. 

“We are your heroes. We stand to serve and protect you. Stormfront’s violation of that special trust is unforgivable.” Hannah had seen enough after that. She reached for the remote and turned off the TV, sighing deeply and running her hands over her face. 

“You alright?” Mallory asked. Hannah looked up and nodded a little. 

“As alright as I can be.” She replied. Mallory gave her a concerned look. 

“You think he’s up to something?” 

“It’s Homelander. He won’t take what we did sitting down. Of course, he’s planning something. I just don’t know what.” 

“That brings me onto a point I wanted to raise with you.” Mallory began. Hannah sat up in her seat and quirked a brow. 

“The Whitehouse is opening an office of Supe Affairs, Victoria Neuman is heading it. She’s given me some off the books funding for a team that can keep tabs on the supes. If you’re interested?” Mallory asked. Hannah went quiet and took a breath, a small smile on her lips. 

“I’ll think about it.” She replied with a small nod. Mallory nodded in return and looked up at the clock. 

“I need to head off. Do keep in touch, Hannah. Let me know when he wakes up.” Mallory looked over at Billy with a sad smile before looking back at Hannah. The blonde got out of her seat and gave Mallory a sincere hug and a sweet smile before the older woman left. She closed the door behind her before returning to her seat, grabbing her phone from the bedside table. Three new messages. The first was from MM, a picture of himself, Janine and Monique around the doll’s house he had been working on for what seemed like forever. The second was from Frenchie: a photo of him and Kimiko outside Disney World in Florida along with the message “Miss you, Cherie, wish you were here.” The last was from Hughie. A picture of him, Annie and Neuman at her campaign office. All three looked happy. It brought a smile to Hannah’s face to see the people she cared about more than anything finally looking genuinely happy and able to live their lives. 

“Jesus fucking Christ, I thought she were never leavin’.” The rough, Cockney voice almost made Hannah jump out of her seat. 

“Billy? Billy, oh my fucking God, you’re awake!” Hannah squealed, throwing herself forward to hug him. Billy grunted and groaned in pain and Hannah immediately backed away, apologising. 

“Han, I’ve been awake for three days, luv. Just didn’t feel up for chattin’ with Mallory.” He looked over at her and gave her that cheeky smirk she had missed so much. 

“And you couldn’t have let me know?” 

“Nah, not when I could just lie ‘ere and listen t’ ya sayin’ all sorts of sweet, soppy shite t’ me.” Hannah glared at him and nudged him gently before giving him a small smile. 

“How do you feel? Did the doctors say anything important?”

“Just that I’ll be speakin’ with a voice t’ rival Barry White for a bit, but I should make a full recovery. They recommended I quit smokin’ too, but we all know that ain’t gonna fuckin’ happen.” Hannah chuckled softly. 

“Thank you, luv…for stayin’ with me as long as ya did.” Billy gave her a genuine smile and reached out to take one of her hands in his. He brought her hand to his lips and pressed a soft kiss to the back. 

“What was I meant to do? Just leave you here alone? I couldn’t do that to you, Billy.” She replied softly, giving his hand a small squeeze. 

“So, did I hear right? We’re free as birds now?” Hannah nodded softly. 

“All charges dropped – even the things we did do.” She smirked. 

“Fuckin’ diabolical.” Billy smirked. Hannah laughed softly and leaned forward to press a soft kiss to his cheek. 

“What do we do now then?” Hannah asked with a little smile. Billy gave her hand a little squeeze and hummed in thought for a moment. 

“I hear Tahiti is nice this time o’ year.”


End file.
